Hedge
Pronunciation
- enPR: hĕj, IPA: /hedʒ/
- Rhymes: -ɛdʒ
Origin
From Middle English hegge, from Old English hecg, from Proto-Germanic *hagjÅ (compare Dutch heg, German Hecke), from Proto-Indo-European *kagÊ°yo-. More at haw.
Noun
hedge
(plural hedges)- 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.He trims the hedge once a week.
- 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher Chapter 1, But then I had the massive flintlock by me for protection. ¶...The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window …, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.
- (UK, mainly Devon and Cornwall) A mound of earth, stone- or turf-faced, often topped with bushes, used as a fence between any two portions of land.
- A non-committal or intentionally ambiguous statement.
- (finance) Contract or arrangement reducing one's exposure to risk (for example the risk of price movements or interest rate movements).The asset class acts as a hedge.
- A hedge is an investment position intended to offset potential losses/gains that may be incurred by a companion investment. In simple language, a hedge is used to reduce any substantial losses/gains suffered by an individual or an organization.
- (UK, Ireland, noun adjunct) Used attributively, with figurative indication of a person's upbringing, or professional activities, taking place by the side of the road; third-rate.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.2:Attalus...made him so dead-drunke that insensibly and without feeling he might prostitute his beauty as the body of a common hedge-harlot, to Mulettiers, Groomes and many of the abject servants of his house.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Folio Society 1973, p. 639:He then traced them from place to place, till at last he found two of them drinking together, with a third person, at a hedge-tavern near Aldersgate.
- http://books.google.com/books?id=tOtBAAAAIAAJ, This particular wheelwright is only a hedge carpenter, without even a shop of his own,...
Derived terms
Full definition of hedge
Verb
- (transitive) To enclose with a hedge or hedges.to hedge a field or garden
- (transitive) To obstruct with a hedge or hedges.
- Bible, Hos. ii. 6I will hedge up thy way with thorns.
- MiltonLollius Urbius ... drew another wall ... to hedge out incursions from the north.
- (transitive, finance) To offset the risk associated with.
- (intransitive) To avoid verbal commitment.He carefully hedged his statements with weasel words.
- (intransitive) To construct or repair a hedge.
- (intransitive, finance) To reduce one's exposure to risk.