HEDGE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does hedge mean? 

• HEDGE (noun)
  The noun HEDGE has 3 senses:

1. a fence formed by a row of closely planted shrubs or bushes

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

3. an intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement

  Familiarity information: HEDGE used as a noun is uncommon.

• HEDGE (verb)
  The verb HEDGE has 4 senses:

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

2. hinder or restrict with or as if with a hedge

3. enclose or bound in with or as it with a hedge or hedges

4. minimize loss or risk

  Familiarity information: HEDGE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HEDGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

hedge; hedgerow

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:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

hedge; hedging

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

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

An intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

hedge; hedging

Context example:

when you say 'maybe' you are just hedging

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))

• HEDGE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they hedge    ... he / she / it hedges   
Past simple: hedged   
Past participle: hedged   
-ing form: hedging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

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

Context example:

he evaded the questions skillfully

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 2

Meaning:

Hinder or restrict with or as if with a hedge

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

The animals were hedged in

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

hedge; hedge in

Context example:

hedge the property

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:

Minimize loss or risk

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

hedge your bets

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)

 Context examples 

The south wind blew Dora, and the wild flowers in the hedges were all Doras, to a bud.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

We are hedged in with difficulties, all of us, my poor old fellow; but, please God, we shall come through them all right.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

On the right side was a small wooden thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the tradesmen’s entrance.

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

I saw her look about her as she came to the Charlington hedge.

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

The garden sloping to the road, the house standing in it, the green pales, and the laurel hedge, everything declared they were arriving.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

He tried to climb over the hedge, but it seemed to grow higher and higher.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"If it gets over the hedge we're done," said Summerlee, and his voice crackled into a nervous laugh as he spoke.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But he is as healthy as a May-hedge in bloom.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At the vicarage you passed through the orchard and the side hedge, coming out under the window of the lodger Tregennis.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Almost at the same time a pistol-shot, flash and report, came from the hedge side.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)