GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Hedge (?), n. [OE. hegge, AS. hecg; akin to haga an inclosure, E. haw, AS. hege hedge, E. haybote, D. hegge, OHG. hegga, G. hecke. √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.
   
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   The roughest berry on the rudest hedge. Shak.
   
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   Through the verdant maze
   
   Of sweetbrier hedges I pursue my walk. Thomson.
   
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   ☞ Hedge, when used adjectively or in composition, often means rustic, outlandish, illiterate, poor, or mean; as, hedge priest; hedgeborn, etc.
   
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   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 (Zool.), 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.
   
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2.       
   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”.
   
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   2. To obstruct, as a road, with a barrier; to hinder from progress or success; -- sometimes with up and out.
   
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   I will hedge up thy way with thorns. Hos. ii. 6.
   
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   Lollius Urbius . . . drew another wall . . . to hedge out incursions from the north. Milton.
   
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   3. To surround for defense; to guard; to protect; to hem (in). “England, hedged in with the main.”  Shak.
   
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   4. To surround so as to prevent escape.
   
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   That is a law to hedge in the cuckoo. Locke.
   
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   5. 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”.
   
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   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 hedge5.
   
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3.       
   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.
   
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   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.
   
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   2. (Betting) To reduce the risk of a wager by making a bet against the side or chance one has bet on.
   
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   3. To use reservations and qualifications in one's speech so as to avoid committing one's self to anything definite.
   
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   The Heroic Stanzas read much more like an elaborate attempt to hedge between the parties than . . . to gain favor from the Roundheads. Saintsbury.
   
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