'Hedge' definitions:

Definition of 'hedge'

From: WordNet
noun
A fence formed by a row of closely planted shrubs or bushes [syn: hedge, hedgerow]
noun
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]
noun
An intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement; "when you say `maybe' you are just hedging" [syn: hedge, hedging]
verb
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]
verb
Hinder or restrict with or as if with a hedge; "The animals were hedged in"
verb
Enclose or bound in with or as it with a hedge or hedges; "hedge the property" [syn: hedge, hedge in]
verb
Minimize loss or risk; "diversify your financial portfolio to hedge price risks"; "hedge your bets"

Definition of 'Hedge'

From: GCIDE
  • 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. [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]
  • Note: 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]

Definition of 'Hedge'

From: GCIDE
  • 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. [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]

Definition of 'Hedge'

From: GCIDE
  • 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. [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]

Synonyms of 'hedge'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Hedge'