Hedge

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Hedge, n. [OE. hegge, AS. hecg; akin to haga an inclosure, E. haw, AS. hege hedge, E. haybote, D. hegge, OHG. hegga, G. hecke. 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.  [1913 Webster]
" Hedge, when used adjectively or in composition, often means rustic, outlandish, illiterate, poor, or mean; as, hedge priest; hedgeborn, etc."  [1913 Webster]
"The roughest berry on the rudest hedge."  [1913 Webster]
"Through the verdant maze
Of sweetbrier hedges I pursue my walk."  [1913 Webster]

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 (Zoöl.), 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, v. t. 

•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  To obstruct, as a road, with a barrier; to hinder from progress or success; -- sometimes with up and out.  [1913 Webster]

  "I will hedge up thy way with thorns."  [1913 Webster]

  "Lollius Urbius . . . drew another wall . . . to hedge out incursions from the north."  [1913 Webster]
•  To surround for defense; to guard; to protect; to hem (in).  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  To surround so as to prevent escape.  [1913 Webster]

  "That is a law to hedge in the cuckoo."  [1913 Webster]
•  To protect oneself against excessive loss in an activity by taking a countervailing action; as, to hedge an investment denominated in a foreign currency by buying or selling futures in that currency; to hedge a donation to one political party by also donating to the opposed political party.  [PJC]

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. See hedge{5}.

Hedge, v. i. 

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "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."  [1913 Webster]
•  To reduce the risk of a wager by making a bet against the side or chance one has bet on.  [1913 Webster]
•  To use reservations and qualifications in one's speech so as to avoid committing one's self to anything definite.  [1913 Webster]

  "The Heroic Stanzas read much more like an elaborate attempt to hedge between the parties than . . . to gain favor from the Roundheads."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

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.

Idiom

hedge-hop fly at a very low altitude. hedge sparrow a common grey and brown bird, Prunella modularis; the dunnock .

Derivative

hedger n.

Etymology

OE hegg f. Gmc

THESAURUS

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

ROGET THESAURUS

Hedge

Compensation

VB make compensation, compensate, compense, indemnify, counteract, countervail, counterpoise, balance, outbalance, overbalance, counterbalance, set off, hedge, square, give and take, make up for, lee way, cover, fill up, neutralize, nullify, equalize, make good, redeem.

Inclosure

N inclosure, envelope, case, wrapper, girdle, pen, fold, pen fold, in fold, sheep fold, paddock, pound, corral, yard, net, seine net, wall, hedge, hedge row, espalier, fence, pale, paling, balustrade, rail, railing, quickset hedge, park paling, circumvallation, enceinte, ring fence, barrier, barricade, gate, gateway, bent, dingle, door, hatch, cordon, prison, dike, dyke, ditch, fosse, moat.