hedge
pronunciation
How to pronounce hedge in British English:
UK [hedʒ]
How to pronounce hedge in American English:
US [hedʒ]
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- Noun:
- a fence formed by a row of closely planted shrubs or bushes
- any technique designed to reduce or eliminate financial risk; for example, taking two positions that will offset each other if prices change
- an intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement
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- Verb:
- avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)
- hinder or restrict with or as if with a hedge
- enclose or bound in with or as it with a hedge or hedges
- minimize loss or risk
Word Origin
- hedge
- hedge: [OE] Hedge traces its ancestry back to a prehistoric Germanic *khag-, which also produced the haw of hawthorn and possibly haggard and quay too. From it was derived the West Germanic noun *khagjō, which has since become differentiated into German hecke, Dutch heg, and English hedge. The compound hedgehog, an allusion to the animal’s piglike nose, dates from the 15th century (porcupine, literally ‘pig spine’, conveys much the same idea).=> haggard, hawthorn, quay
- hedge (n.)
- Old English hecg, originally any fence, living or artificial, from West Germanic *khagja (cognates: Middle Dutch hegge, Dutch heg, Old High German hegga, German Hecke "hedge"), from PIE *kagh- "to catch, seize; wickerwork, fence" (cognates: Latin caulae "a sheepfold, enclosure," Gaulish caio "circumvallation," Welsh cae "fence, hedge"). Related to Old English haga "enclosure, hedge" (see haw). Figurative sense of "boundary, barrier" is from mid-14c. Prefixed to any word, it "notes something mean, vile, of the lowest class" [Johnson], from contemptuous attributive sense of "plying one's trade under a hedge" (hedge-priest, hedge-lawyer, hedge-wench, etc.), a usage attested from 1530s.
- hedge (v.)
- late 14c., "make a hedge," also "surround with a barricade or palisade;" from hedge (n.). The sense of "dodge, evade" is first recorded 1590s. That of "insure oneself against loss," as in a bet, by playing something on the other side is from 1670s, originally with in; probably from an earlier use of hedge in meaning "secure (a debt) by including it in a larger one which has better security" (1610s). Related: Hedged; hedging. The noun in the wagering sense is from 1736.
Example
- 1. As many traders say , the only perfect hedge is in a japanese garden .
- 2. Another works like a giant set of hedge clippers .
- 3. Mr obama 's approach has been to engage and hedge : to deepen bilateral dialogue while refurbishing washington 's regional alliances the so-called rebalancing of us policy to asia .
- 4. The 36-volt lithium-ion stihl hsa 65 cordless hedge trimmer ( $ 500 ) - the first product to be introduced in a new line of battery-powered yard tools by stihl-is poised to convert those homeowners demanding a pro-level cut .
- 5. Water the soil along the length of the hedge to settle it and remove air pockets .