Hedge HEDGE, n. hej. [Eng. haw] Properly, a thicket of thorn-bushes or other shrubs or small trees; but appropriately, such a thicket planted round a field to fence it, or in rows, to separate the parts of a garden.
Hedge, prefixed to another word, or in composition, denotes something mean, as a hedge-priest, a hedge-press, a hedge-vicar, that is, born in or belonging to the hedges or woods, low, outlandish. [Not used in American.]
HEDGE, v.t. hej. To inclose with a hedge; to fence with a thicket of shrubs or small trees; to separate by a hedge; as, to hedge a field or garden.
1. To obstruct with a hedge, or to obstruct in any manner.
I will hedge up thy way with thorns. Hosea 2.
2. To surround for defense; to fortify.
England hedged in with the main.
3. To inclose for preventing escape.
That is a law to hedge in the cuckow.
Dryden, Swift and Shakespeare have written hedge, for edge, to edge in, but improperly.
HEDGE, v.i. hej. To hide, as in a hedge; to hide; to skulk.

hedge n 1: a fence formed by a row of closely planted shrubs or bushes [syn: hedge, hedgerow] 2: any technique designed to reduce or eliminate financial risk; for example, taking two positions that will offset each other if prices change [syn: hedge, hedging] 3: an intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement; "when you say `maybe' you are just hedging" [syn: hedge, hedging] v 1: 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] 2: hinder or restrict with or as if with a hedge; "The animals were hedged in" 3: enclose or bound in with or as it with a hedge or hedges; "hedge the property" [syn: hedge, hedge in] 4: minimize loss or risk; "diversify your financial portfolio to hedge price risks"; "hedge your bets"

hedge O.E. hecg, originally any fence, living or artificial, from W.Gmc. *khagja (cf. M.Du. hegge, O.H.G. hegga, Ger. Hecke "hedge"), from PIE. *khagh- "to encompass, enclose" (cf. L. caulae "a sheepfold, enclosure," Gaul. caio "circumvallation," Welsh cae "fence, hedge"). Related to O.E. haga "enclosure, hedge" (see haw). Prefixed to any word, it "notes something mean, vile, of the lowest class" [Johnson], from contemptuous attributive sense of "plying one's trade under a hedge" (hedge-priest, hedge-lawyer, hedge-wench, etc.), a usage attested from c.1530. The verb sense of "dodge, evade" is first recorded 1598; that of "insure oneself against loss," as in a bet, is from 1672. Hedgehog is c.1450 (replacing O.E. igl), the second element an allusion to its pig-like snout. Hedgerow is O.E. hegger?iw.

hedge I. noun Etymology: Middle English hegge, from Old English hecg; akin to Old English haga hedge, hawthorn Date: before 12th century 1. a. a fence or boundary formed by a dense row of shrubs or low trees b. barrier, limit 2. a means of protection or defense (as against financial loss) 3. a calculatedly noncommittal or evasive statement II. verb (hedged; hedging) Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to enclose or protect with or as if with a hedge ; encircle 2. to hem in or obstruct with or as if with a barrier ; hinder <hedged about by special regulations and statutes — Sandi Rosenbloom> 3. to protect oneself from losing or failing by a counterbalancing action <hedge a bet> intransitive verb 1. to plant, form, or trim a hedge 2. to evade the risk of commitment especially by leaving open a way of retreat ; trim 3. to protect oneself financially: as a. to buy or sell commodity futures as a protection against loss due to price fluctuation b. to minimize the risk of a bet • hedger noun • hedgingly adverb III. adjective Date: 14th century 1. of, relating to, or designed for a hedge 2. born, living, or made near or as if near hedges ; roadside 3. inferior 3

hedge
n. & v.
--n.
1 a fence or boundary formed by closely growing bushes or shrubs.
2 a protection against possible loss or diminution.
--v.
1 tr. surround or bound with a hedge.
2 tr. (foll. by in) enclose.
3 a tr. reduce one's risk of loss on (a bet or speculation) by compensating transactions on the other side. b intr. avoid a definite decision or commitment.
4 intr. make or trim hedges.
Phrases and idioms:
hedge-hop fly at a very low altitude. hedge sparrow a common grey and brown bird, Prunella modularis; the dunnock .
Derivatives:
hedger n.
Etymology: OE hegg f. Gmc

hedge (hedges, hedging, hedged) 1. A hedge is a row of bushes or small trees, usually along the edge of a garden, field, or road. N-COUNT 2. If you hedge against something unpleasant or unwanted that might affect you, especially losing money, you do something which will protect you from it. You can hedge against redundancy or illness with insurance... Today's clever financial instruments make it possible for firms to hedge their risks. VERB: V against n, V n 3. Something that is a hedge against something unpleasant will protect you from its effects. Gold is traditionally a hedge against inflation. N-COUNT: N against n 4. If you hedge, you avoid answering a question or committing yourself to a particular action or decision. They hedged in answering various questions about the operation... 'I can't give you an answer now,' he hedged. VERB: V, V with quote 5. If you hedge your bets, you reduce the risk of losing a lot by supporting more than one person or thing in a situation where they are opposed to each other. Hawker Siddeley tried to hedge its bets by diversifying into other fields... PHRASE: V inflects

hedge hedʒ n. & v. --n. 1 a fence or boundary formed by closely growing bushes or shrubs. 2 a protection against possible loss or diminution. --v. 1 tr. surround or bound with a hedge. 2 tr. (foll. by in) enclose. 3 a tr. reduce one's risk of loss on (a bet or speculation) by compensating transactions on the other side. b intr. avoid a definite decision or commitment. 4 intr. make or trim hedges. øhedge-hop fly at a very low altitude. hedge sparrow a common grey and brown bird, Prunella modularis; the dunnock . øøhedger n. [OE hegg f. Gmc]

HEDGE To make a hedge; to secure a bet, or wager, laid on one side, by taking the odds on the other, so that, let what will happen, a certain gain is secured, or hedged in, by the person who takes this precaution; who is then said to be on velvet.

Hedge \Hedge\, n. [OE. hegge, AS. hecg; akin to haga an inclosure, E. haw, AS. hege hedge, E. haybote, D. hegge, OHG. hegga, G. hecke. [root]12. See Haw a hedge.] A thicket of bushes, usually thorn bushes; especially, such a thicket planted as a fence between any two portions of land; and also any sort of shrubbery, as evergreens, planted in a line or as a fence; particularly, such a thicket planted round a field to fence it, or in rows to separate the parts of a garden. The roughest berry on the rudest hedge. --Shak. Through the verdant maze Of sweetbrier hedges I pursue my walk. --Thomson. Note: Hedge, when used adjectively or in composition, often means rustic, outlandish, illiterate, poor, or mean; as, hedge priest; hedgeborn, etc. Hedge bells, Hedge bindweed (Bot.), a climbing plant related to the morning-glory ({Convolvulus sepium}). Hedge bill, a long-handled billhook. Hedge garlic (Bot.), a plant of the genus Alliaria. See Garlic mustard, under Garlic. Hedge hyssop (Bot.), a bitter herb of the genus Gratiola, the leaves of which are emetic and purgative. Hedge marriage, a secret or clandestine marriage, especially one performed by a hedge priest. [Eng.] Hedge mustard (Bot.), a plant of the genus Sisymbrium, belonging to the Mustard family. Hedge nettle (Bot.), an herb, or under shrub, of the genus Stachys, belonging to the Mint family. It has a nettlelike appearance, though quite harmless. Hedge note. (a) The note of a hedge bird. (b) Low, contemptible writing. [Obs.] --Dryden. Hedge priest, a poor, illiterate priest. --Shak. Hedge school, an open-air school in the shelter of a hedge, in Ireland; a school for rustics. Hedge sparrow (Zo["o]l.), a European warbler ({Accentor modularis}) which frequents hedges. Its color is reddish brown, and ash; the wing coverts are tipped with white. Called also chanter, hedge warbler, dunnock, and doney. Hedge writer, an insignificant writer, or a writer of low, scurrilous stuff. [Obs.] --Swift. To breast up a hedge. See under Breast. To hang in the hedge, to be at a standstill. ``While the business of money hangs in the hedge.'' --Pepys.

Hedge \Hedge\, v. i. 1. To shelter one's self from danger, risk, duty, responsibility, etc., as if by hiding in or behind a hedge; to skulk; to slink; to shirk obligations. I myself sometimes, leaving the fear of God on the left hand and hiding mine honor in my necessity, am fain to shuffle, to hedge and to lurch. --Shak. 2. (Betting) To reduce the risk of a wager by making a bet against the side or chance one has bet on. 3. To use reservations and qualifications in one's speech so as to avoid committing one's self to anything definite. The Heroic Stanzas read much more like an elaborate attempt to hedge between the parties than . . . to gain favor from the Roundheads. --Saintsbury.

Hedge \Hedge\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hedged; p. pr. & vb. n. Hedging.] 1. To inclose or separate with a hedge; to fence with a thickly set line or thicket of shrubs or small trees; as, to hedge a field or garden. 2. To obstruct, as a road, with a barrier; to hinder from progress or success; -- sometimes with up and out. I will hedge up thy way with thorns. --Hos. ii. 6. Lollius Urbius . . . drew another wall . . . to hedge out incursions from the north. --Milton. 3. To surround for defense; to guard; to protect; to hem (in). ``England, hedged in with the main.'' --Shak. 4. To surround so as to prevent escape. That is a law to hedge in the cuckoo. --Locke. To hedge a bet, to bet upon both sides; that is, after having bet on one side, to bet also on the other, thus guarding against loss.

HEDGE hej: (1) mecukhah, "a thorn hedge," only in Mic 7:4.; mesukkah, "a hedge" (Isa 5:5); mesukhath chadheq, "a hedge of thorns" (Pr 15:19). (2) gadher, and geherah, translated "hedges" in the Revised Version (British and American) only in Ps 89:40, elsewhere "fence." GEDERAH (which see) in the Revised Version margin is translated "hedges" (1Ch 4:23). (3) na`atsuts, "thorn-hedges" (Isa 7:19). (4) phragmos, translated "hedge" (Mt 21:33; Mr 12:1; Lu 14:23); "partition" in Eph 2:14, which is its literal meaning. In the Septuagint it is the usual equivalent of the above Hebrew words. Loose stone walls without mortar are the usual "fences" around fields in Palestine, and this is what gadher and gedherah signify in most passages. Hedges made of cut thorn branches or thorny bushes are very common in the plains and particularly in the Jordan valley. E. W. G. Masterman

hedge I. n. Fence (of bushes or shrubs), hedge-fence. II. v. a. 1. Enclose with a hedge. 2. Obstruct, hinder, encumber, hem in, surround. 3. Fortify, guard, protect. III. v. n. Hide, skulk, disappear, take refuge in a hiding-place, evade, dodge, proceed stealthily.

210 Moby Thesaurus words for "hedge": abate, about the bush, adjust to, allowance, alter, around the bush, assuage, bar, beat about, beat around, beg the question, bicker, boggle, border line, bound, boundary, boundary condition, boundary line, bourn, box in, break boundary, breakoff point, bulkhead in, cage, calculation, canniness, care, careful consideration, carefulness, caution, cautiousness, cavil, ceiling, cession, choplogic, circumscribe, circumscription, circumspection, clear the decks, compass, concession, condition, confine, consider every angle, contain, coop, copyright, corral, cutoff, cutoff point, deadline, deliberate stages, deliberateness, deliberation, delimitation, determinant, diminish, discipline, discretion, division line, dodge, draw the line, duck, end, equivocate, evade, evade the issue, exception, exemption, extenuating circumstances, extremity, fence, finish, floor, forearm, frontier, gingerliness, grain of salt, grant, guard against, guardedness, hedge about, hedging, heed, heedfulness, hem, hem and haw, hesitation, high-water mark, immure, interface, judiciousness, leave out nothing, leaven, limen, limit, limitation, limiting factor, line, line of demarcation, low-water mark, lower limit, make sure, make sure against, march, mark, mental reservation, mete, mew, mindfulness, mitigate, moderate, modification, modify, modulate, mystify, narrow, nitpick, obscure, overlook no possibility, pale, palisade, palliate, palter, parry, patent, pawkiness, pen, pick nits, picket, play safe, prepare for, prevaricate, prior consultation, provide a hedge, provide against, provide for, prudence, prudentialness, pull away, pull back, pussyfoot, put off, qualification, qualify, quibble, rail, recoil, reduce, reef down, regardfulness, register, regulate by, reservation, restrain, restrict, restriction, safeness, safety first, salvo, scant, season, set conditions, set limits, sheer off, shift, shift off, shorten sail, shrink, shuffle, shy, shy away, shy off, sidestep, slowness to act, soften, solicitude, special case, special treatment, specialize, specialness, specification, split hairs, start, starting line, starting point, step aside, stint, straiten, swerve, take measures, take precautions, take steps, target date, temper, tentativeness, tergiversate, term, terminal date, terminus, thoroughness, threshold, time allotment, uncommunicativeness, unprecipitateness, upper limit, waiver, wall, ward off, weasel

look up a word or phrase