GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

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.
    1913 Webster
    The roughest berry on the rudest hedge.
    Shak.

    1913 Webster
    Through the verdant maze
    Of sweetbrier hedges I pursue my walk.
    Thomson.

    1913 Webster
    ☞ Hedge, when used adjectively or in composition, often means rustic, outlandish, illiterate, poor, or mean; as, hedge priest; hedgeborn, etc.
    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 (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.

    1913 Webster
    
      
    
  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.
      1913 Webster
    2. 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.
      Hos. ii. 6.

      1913 Webster
      Lollius Urbius . . . drew another wall . . . to hedge out incursions from the north.
      Milton.

      1913 Webster
    3. To surround for defense; to guard; to protect; to hem (in). “England, hedged in with the main.” 
      Shak.

      1913 Webster
    4. To surround so as to prevent escape.
      1913 Webster
      That is a law to hedge in the cuckoo.
      Locke.

      1913 Webster
    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.
      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}.
      1913 Webster
    
      
    
  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.
      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.
      Shak.

      1913 Webster
    2. (Betting) To reduce the risk of a wager by making a bet against the side or chance one has bet on.
      1913 Webster
    3. 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.
      Saintsbury.

      1913 Webster

Last match results