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. The roughest berry on the rudest hedge. Shak. Through the verdant maze Of sweetbrier hedges I pursue my walk. Thomson.

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. 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. 6. Lollius Urbius . . . drew another wall . . . to hedge out incursions from the north. Milton. To surround for defense; to guard; to protect; to hem (in). "England, hedged in with the main." Shak. 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.

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. To reduce the risk of a wager by making a bet against the side or chance one has bet on. 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.

A surname.

A thicket of bushes or other shrubbery, especially one planted as a fence between two portions of land, or to separate the parts of a garden. | A barrier (often consisting of a line of persons or objects) to protect someone or something from harm. | A mound of earth, stone- or turf-faced, often topped with bushes, used as a fence between any two portions of land. | A noncommittal or intentionally ambiguous statement. | Contract or arrangement reducing one's exposure to risk (for example the risk of price movements or interest rate movements). | With indication of a person's upbringing, or professional activities, taking place by the side of the road; being third-rate, poor, shoddy.

To enclose with a hedge or hedges. | To obstruct or surround. | To offset the risk associated with. | To avoid verbal commitment. | To construct or repair a hedge. | To reduce one's exposure to risk.