Library / English Dictionary

HEDGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fence formed by a row of closely planted shrubs or bushes

Synonyms:

hedge; hedgerow

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("hedge" is a kind of...):

fence; fencing (a barrier that serves to enclose an area)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hedge"):

privet hedge (hedge of privet plants)

shelterbelt; windbreak (hedge or fence of trees designed to lessen the force of the wind and reduce erosion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement

Example:

when you say 'maybe' you are just hedging

Synonyms:

hedge; hedging

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("hedge" is a kind of...):

equivocation; evasion (a statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth)

Derivation:

hedge (avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Any technique designed to reduce or eliminate financial risk; for example, taking two positions that will offset each other if prices change

Synonyms:

hedge; hedging

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("hedge" is a kind of...):

protection; security (defense against financial failure; financial independence)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Minimize loss or risk

Example:

hedge your bets

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "hedge" is one way to...):

minimise; minimize (make small or insignificant)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

hedger (someone who counterbalances one transaction (as a bet) against another in order to protect against loss)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)

Example:

he evaded the questions skillfully

Synonyms:

circumvent; dodge; duck; elude; evade; fudge; hedge; parry; put off; sidestep; skirt

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "hedge" is one way to...):

avoid (stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "hedge"):

beg (dodge, avoid answering, or take for granted)

quibble (evade the truth of a point or question by raising irrelevant objections)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

hedge (an intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement)

hedger (a respondent who avoids giving a clear direct answer)

hedging (an intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Enclose or bound in with or as it with a hedge or hedges

Example:

hedge the property

Synonyms:

hedge; hedge in

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "hedge" is one way to...):

close in; enclose; inclose; shut in (surround completely)

Verb group:

hedge (hinder or restrict with or as if with a hedge)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Hinder or restrict with or as if with a hedge

Example:

The animals were hedged in

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "hedge" is one way to...):

hem in (surround in a restrictive manner)

Verb group:

hedge; hedge in (enclose or bound in with or as it with a hedge or hedges)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

Holmes and the Inspector led us round it until we came to the side gate, which is separated by a stretch of garden from the hedge which lines the road.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They asked, too: “Under what hedge have you been lying sleeping all the time?”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

"Now," said he, releasing his under lip from a hard bite, "just hand me my whip; it lies there under the hedge."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But I told a man mending a hedge that it was Thornton Lacey, and he agreed to it.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Buck did not attack, but circled him about and hedged him in with friendly advances.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Capricorn also rules big financial transactions, so you might work on the stock exchange or for a hedge fund or venture capital firm.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The present season was indeed divine; the flowers of spring bloomed in the hedges, while those of summer were already in bud.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Ma foi! it was a foolish thing, for we came forth from the hedges, and there was naught to guard the baggage had they ridden round behind us.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When she looked at the hedges, she thought the elder at least must soon be coming out; and when she turned round to Harriet, she saw something like a look of spring, a tender smile even there.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I was endeavouring to find some gap in the hedge, when I discovered one of the inhabitants in the next field, advancing towards the stile, of the same size with him whom I saw in the sea pursuing our boat.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)