Adjacent Words

Dodge definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DODGE, v.i. doj. [from some root signifying to shoot, dart or start.]
1. To start suddenly aside; to shift place by a sudden start.
2. To play tricks; to be evasive; to use tergiversation; to play fast and loose; to raise expectations and disappoint them; to quibble.
DODGE, v.t. To evade by a sudden shift of place; to escape by starting aside; as, to dodge a blow aimed; to dodge a canon ball. [This is a common word, very expressive and useful, but not admissible in solemn discourse or elegant composition.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade; "his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us off the track" [syn: contrivance, stratagem, dodge]
2: a quick evasive movement
3: a statement that evades the question by cleverness or trickery [syn: dodge, dodging, scheme] v
1: make a sudden movement in a new direction so as to avoid; "The child dodged the teacher's blow"
2: move to and fro or from place to place usually in an irregular course; "the pickpocket dodged through the crowd"
3: avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues); "He dodged the issue"; "she skirted the problem"; "They tend to evade their responsibilities"; "he evaded the questions skillfully" [syn: hedge, fudge, evade, put off, circumvent, parry, elude, skirt, dodge, duck, sidestep]

Merriam Webster's

biographical name Mary Elizabeth 1831-1905 née Mapes American author

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1575 1. an act of evading by sudden bodily movement 2. a. an artful device to evade, deceive, or trick b. expedient II. verb (dodged; dodging) Date: 1680 intransitive verb 1. a. to move to and fro or from place to place usually in an irregular course <dodged through the crowd> b. to make a sudden movement in a new direction (as to evade a blow) <dodged behind the door> 2. to evade a responsibility or duty especially by trickery or deceit transitive verb 1. a. to evade by a sudden or repeated shift of position <dodge tacklers> b. to avoid an encounter with <celebrities dodging the media> 2. to evade (as a duty) usually indirectly or by trickery <dodged the draft by leaving the country> <dodged questions>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 intr. (often foll. by about, behind, round) move quickly to one side or quickly change position, to elude a pursuer, blow, etc. (dodged behind the chair). 2 tr. a evade by cunning or trickery (dodged paying the fare). b elude (a pursuer, opponent, blow, etc.) by a sideward movement etc. 3 tr. Austral. sl. acquire dishonestly. 4 intr. (of a bell in change-ringing) move one place contrary to the normal sequence. --n. 1 a quick movement to avoid or evade something. 2 a clever trick or expedient. 3 the dodging of a bell in change-ringing. Phrases and idioms: dodge the column see COLUMN. Etymology: 16th c.: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dodge Dodge, n. The act of evading by some skillful movement; a sudden starting aside; hence, an artful device to evade, deceive, or cheat; a cunning trick; an artifice. [Colloq.] Some, who have a taste for good living, have many harmless arts, by which they improve their banquet, and innocent dodges, if we may be permitted to use an excellent phrase that has become vernacular since the appearance of the last dictionaries. -- Thackeray.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dodge Dodge, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Dodged; p. pr. & vb. n. Dodging.] [Of uncertain origin: cf. dodder, v., daddle, dade, or dog, v. t.] 1. To start suddenly aside, as to avoid a blow or a missile; to shift place by a sudden start. --Milton. 2. To evade a duty by low craft; to practice mean shifts; to use tricky devices; to play fast and loose; to quibble. Some dodging casuist with more craft than sincerity. --Milton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dodge Dodge, v. t. 1. To evade by a sudden shift of place; to escape by starting aside; as, to dodge a blow aimed or a ball thrown. 2. Fig.: To evade by craft; as, to dodge a question; to dodge responsibility. [Colloq.] --S. G. Goodrich. 3. To follow by dodging, or suddenly shifting from place to place. --Coleridge.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(dodges, dodging, dodged) 1. If you dodge, you move suddenly, often to avoid being hit, caught, or seen. He dodged amongst the seething crowds of men... VERB: V prep/adv 2. If you dodge something, you avoid it by quickly moving aside or out of reach so that it cannot hit or reach you. He desperately dodged a speeding car trying to run him down. = sidestep VERB: V n 3. If you dodge something, you deliberately avoid thinking about it or dealing with it, often by being deceitful. He boasts of dodging military service by feigning illness... = evade VERB: V n • Dodge is also a noun. This was not just a tax dodge. N-COUNT: usu supp N

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. 1. Start aside, shift place suddenly, duck. 2. (Colloq.) Shuffle, evade, equivocate, quibble, prevaricate, use artifice, play fast and loose, be evasive. II. v. a. Evade (by starting or ducking). III. n. 1. Starting aside. 2. (Colloq.) Evasion, artifice, trick, subterfuge, quibble, cavil.

Moby Thesaurus

about the bush, action, ad hoc measure, answer, around the bush, art, artful dodge, artifice, avoid, avoidance, avoiding reaction, back and fill, bag of tricks, ballot-box stuffing, be stuck-up, beat about, beat around, beg the question, bicker, blench, blind, blink, bluff, bob, boggle, bosey, bunco, cardsharping, carefully ignore, catch, cavil, cheat, cheating, chicane, chicanery, choplogic, chouse, circumvention, cold-shoulder, conspiracy, contrivance, countermove, coup, course of action, cozenage, craft, cringe, curve, curve-ball, cut a corner, cut corners, cute trick, dart, deceit, deceive, deception, defense mechanism, demarche, design, device, diddle, diddling, dirty deal, dirty trick, dishonesty, dog it, double-talk, draw back, duck, duck duty, effort, elude, elusion, elusiveness, equivocate, equivocation, escape, evade, evade the issue, evasion, evasive action, evasiveness, expedient, fade, fakement, fall back, fallback, fast deal, feint, fence, fetch, ficelle, fight shy of, finesse, fishy transaction, flam, flimflam, flinch, forbearance, forestalling, forestallment, fraud, fraudulence, fraudulency, fudge, gambit, game, gerrymandering, get out of, getting around, gimmick, goldbrick, goof off, googly, graft, grift, gyp, gyp joint, hang back, hedge, hem and haw, hocus-pocus, hold aloof, hum and haw, illicit business, imposition, imposture, improvisation, intrigue, jesuitism, jib, jink, joker, juggle, jugglery, jury-rig, jury-rigged expedient, keep aloof, knavery, last expedient, last resort, last shift, little game, machination, makeshift, malinger, maneuver, means, measure, mince the truth, mince words, move, move aside, mystify, neutrality, nitpick, nonintervention, noninvolvement, not pull fair, obscure, palter, parry, pass, pass over, pass over lightly, pick nits, pis aller, plan, plot, ploy, prevaricate, prevarication, prevention, pull away, pull back, pullback, pullout, pussyfoot, put off, quail, quibble, quiddity, quillet, quip, quirk, quodlibet, racket, recoil, red herring, reel back, refraining, resort, resource, retreat, ruse, scam, scamp, scheme, scurvy trick, shake-up, sheer off, shift, shift off, shirk, short-circuit, shrink, shrink back, shuffle, shun, shunning, shunting off, shy, shy away, shy off, sidestep, sidestepping, sidetracking, skim, skim over, skim the surface, skimp, skip over, skirt, skulk, slack, sleight, sleight of hand, sleight-of-hand trick, slide, slide out of, slight, slip, slip out of, slubber over, slur, slur over, sneak out of, soldier, solution, split hairs, stand aloof, start aside, start back, steer clear of, step, step aside, stopgap, stratagem, strategy, stroke, stroke of policy, subterfuge, swerve, swindle, tactic, temporary expedient, tergiversate, the runaround, touch upon, touch upon lightly, trick, trickery, trump, turn aside, twist and turn, veer, waffle, ward off, weasel, weasel out, weave, welsh, wheeze, wile, wily device, wince, working hypothesis, working proposition, zigzag