to combine, blend, or unite gradually so as to blur the individuality or individual identity of: They voted to merge the two branch offices into a single unit.
verb (used without object),merged,merg·ing.
to become combined, united, swallowed up, or absorbed; lose identity by uniting or blending (often followed by in or into): This stream merges into the river up ahead.
to combine or unite into a single enterprise, organization, body, etc.: The two firms merged last year.
Origin of merge
First recorded in 1630–40,merge is from the Latin word mergere to dip, immerse, plunge into water
Related formsmer·gence, nounan·ti·merg·ing, adjectivede·merge, verb (used with object),de·merged,de·merg·ing.re·merge, verb,re·merged,re·merg·ing.un·merge, verb (used with object),un·merged,un·merg·ing.
1630s, "to plunge or sink in," from Latin mergere "to dip, dip in, immerse, plunge," probably rhotacized from *mezgo, from PIE *mezg- "to dip, plunge" (cf. Sanskrit majjati "dives under," Lithuanian mazgoju "to wash"). Legal sense of "absorb an estate, contract, etc. into another" is from 1726. Related: Merged; merging. As a noun, from 1805.
