HEDGES
Proper noun
Hedges
A surname.
Hedges
plural of Hedge
Anagrams
• Hegdes
Noun
hedges
plural of hedge
Verb
hedges
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of hedge
Anagrams
• Hegdes
Source: Wiktionary
HEDGE
Hedge, n. Etym: [OE. hegge, AS. hecg; akin to haga an inclosure, E.
haw, AS. hege hedge, E. haybote, D. hegge, OHG. hegga, G. hecke. sq.
root12. See Haw a hedge.]
Definition: 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.
Note: Hedge, when used adjectively or in composition, often means
rustic, outlandish, illiterate, poor, or mean; as, hedge priest;
hedgeborn, etc. 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 (Zoöl.), 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.
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.
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. 6.
Lollius Urbius . . . drew another wall . . . to hedge out incursions
from the north. Milton.
3. To surround for defense; to guard; to protect; to hem (in).
"England, hedged in with the main." Shak.
4. 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.
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.
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.
2. (Betting)
Definition: To reduce the risk of a wager by making a bet against the side
or chance one has bet on.
3. 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