when a domme uses the term edge play to refer to some of her interests, what does it tend to mean?

wikipedia says that it often refers to behavior more risky than the usual safe, sane and consensual.

The wiki says that it tends to mean breath play, fire play (meaning candle wax dropping or something else?), knife play, fear play, cutting and bloodplay. Apparently, for some, it also means or includes scat or barebacking in some scenes or non-condomized contact or sex.

Hi ztrade. Probably like the internet, Dommes are going to have different activities that they consider edge play. For me it's breath play, fire play, knife play, fear play, intox and taking any other activities to the extreme - like caning to the point of bleeding. These are all things that I would do with consent and with the right person. All of these can be dangerous but they can also be done safely with the right skill and a healthy bottom.

Fire play is where you apply alcohol to small areas of the body, light it and then snuff it out - generally with the stroke of the hand. It's beautiful to watch, most subs love the way it feels - but it does have risks which throws it into edge play.

I also consider cutting, hooks, blood play (needles can also be considered edge play), scat, etc. to be edge play. I just don't do them.

Edge play isn't a particular set of activities. Edge play for someone could be putting on panties if it pushes their boundaries/puts them in a headspace where they feel "on the edge"- hence edge play. It's really about pushing the limit and testing it, the activity itself is inconsequential although typically one would classify toilet play, CNC, knife play and breath play as edge play due to their impact on the vast majority of people.
I would leave barebacking out typically unless that's something that you would classify as highly unusual behavior (perhaps maybe it is a social or cultural taboo.) The reasoning for this is because it's much the same as saying you have a fetish for blowjobs which is an incorrect use of the word "fetish".

I agree with what what you're saying Wiki has as a definition. It is something which has a higher possibility of causing real, lasting harm. So, yes: breath play (cardiac arrest, death), fire play (serious burns), cutting and bloodplay (too much blood loss, possible transmission of bloodborne pathogens, "fear" play (could cause mental/emotional damage, could trigger subconscious trauma), and I'd also agree with scat (risk of Hep A, e coli, etc) and barebacking (risk of a whole swath of STIs, some of which are life-changing).

Two others I can think of right now are consumption of fluids blood, urine, saliva (risk of pathogen transmission) and trauma reenactments (potential to go disastrously wrong).

Some people define it as something that pushes the bottom and/or sub to the "edge". I don't agree with this because it means that anything could be edge play and I don't see that as helpful. The point of having a separate category is to highlight to inherent risk in those activities.

Always learn interesting things on here. Every one of those sound exciting, although I'm not entirely sure what fear play or intox entail.

Makes sense that these sort of things are considered "edge" play because they could be so risky. Definitely not something I would consider unless I trusted the individual.