hedge

Definitions

1. 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. 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.
3. 3.Lollius Urbius . . . drew another wall . . . to hedge out incursions from the north. Milton.
4. 4.To surround for defense; to guard; to protect; to hem (in). "England, hedged in with the main." Shak.
5. 5.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.
6. 6.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.
7. 7.(Betting) To reduce the risk of a wager by making a bet against the side or chance one has bet on.
8. 8.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.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "hedge" mean?
• What is another word for "hedge"?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is hedge.

• What is 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 called?
• What is 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 called?
• What is lollius Urbius . . . drew another wall . . . to hedge out incursions from the north. Milton called?
• What is to surround for defense; to guard; to protect; to hem (in). "England, hedged in with the main." Shak called?
• What is to reduce the risk of a wager by making a bet against the side or chance one has bet on called?