▪ I. hedge, n.
(hɛdʒ)
Forms: 1 *hecg (dat. hegge), 3–6 hegge, 4 hegg, 5–6 hege, 6 Sc. haige, 5 hedche, 7 hedg, 4– hedge; β. 4–6 heg.
[OE. *hęcg, hęgg str. fem., corresp. to EFris. hegge, MDu. hegghe, Du. hegge, heg, OHG. hegga, hecka (MHG. hegge, hecke, Ger. hecke):—OTeut. *hagjâ-; a deriv. of the same root as OE. haᵹa haw n.1 and hęᵹe hay n.2 Cf. also hag n.2]
1. a. A row of bushes or low trees (e.g. hawthorn, or privet) planted closely to form a boundary between pieces of land or at the sides of a road: the usual form of fence in England.
A hedge is called quickset or dead according as it is planted of living or dead plants. (See these adjs.)
| 785 Charter in Cart. Sax. (Birch) I. 339 æt þære lange hegge ænde. 855 O.E. Chron. an. 547 He ᵹetimbrade Bebban burh, sy wæs ærost mid hegge be tined. a 1250 Owl & Night. 17 Þe nihtegale..sat up one faire boȝe..In ore waste þicke hegge. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 211 Hii come among narwe heggys. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 16428 Any leues or rotes seþ, Þat henged on heg or on heþ. 1382 Wyclif Eccl. x. 8 Who scatereth the hegg [1388 hegge]. 1382 ― Mark xii. 1 A man plauntide a vyne⁓ȝerd, and puttide aboute an hegge. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 232/1 Hedge (K., S. hegge), sepes. 1481 Caxton Reynard xxx. (Arb.) 75 The serpent stode in an hedche. 1483 Cath. Angl. 180/1 Hege, ubi a garthe. 1508 Dunbar Goldyn Targe 34 On every syde the hegies raise on hicht. 1508 ― Tua Mariit Wemen 13 That in haist to the hege so hard I inthrang. 1550 Crowley Epigr. 10 b, Two beggars that vnder an hedge sate. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 59 The commyns..within the realme ryssyd and pullyd up heggys and palys. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 50 b, Columella..preferreth the quickeset hedge before the deade. 1653 Walton Angler ii. 62 But turn out of the way..towards yonder high hedg. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 142 To take shelter in the first tree or hedge that offers. 1806 Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 73 Hedge and ditch is the most common mode of fencing property. 1826–44 Loudon Encycl. Agric. 475 Dead hedges..are principally intended for temporary purposes. |
b. Locally or
spec. applied to other fences.
| 1850 Beck's Florist 25 If we examine the stone walls, or, as they are called, ‘hedges’. 1868 Kirk Chas. Bold III. v. iii. 428 The Burgundians erected a palisade, called in the military language of the time a ‘hedge’. 1887 Hall Caine Deemster xvi, One..had jumped to the top of the broad turf hedge. |
2. A fishing weir of faggots or of wattle-work.
| 1653 Walton Angler vi. 135 They [salmon] will force themselves over the tops of Weirs, or Hedges, or stops in the water. 1714 Act 1 Geo. I, Stat. ii. c. 18 §14 If any person..make, erect, or set any bank, dam, hedge or stank, net or nets, cross the said rivers or any part thereof. |
3. trans. Said of any line or array of objects forming a barrier, boundary, or partition.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxxx. 157 The frenche kynge wolde fayne haue come thyder..but there was a great hedge [grand'haye] of archers before hym. 1578 Banister Hist. Man i. 10 A [Processe]..which..into the nostrels discendyng, constituteth the hedge, or partition of the nose. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 95 These three Countries being an hedge betweene the English Pale, and the North. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 183 Towring in a hedge of hills from Armenia to the furthest part of Indya. 1808 Scott Marm. vi. xviii, Flashing on the hedge of spears. 1855 H. Martineau Autobiog. (1877) II. 121 Hedges of police from our little street to the gates of the Abbey. |
4. transf. and
fig. A barrier, limit, defence; a means of protection or defence.
| 1340 Ayenb. 240 Hardnesse of liue þet is a strang heg aye þe wyckede bestes. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. III. 29 Þus was Poul constreyned to crepe out of his hegge, and holde þe sect of Crist, forsakinge þe sect of Pharisees. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 65 As hedges, or stoppes to lette those thynges that myght hurt perfeccyon. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 72 It might appeare by that hedge which he diligently put to all his answers, that he spake..only to cleere himselfe. 1649 Belfast Presbytery in Milton's Wks. (1851) II. 550 Their strong oppositions to Presbyterial Government (the Hedg and Bulwark of Religion). 1825 Scott Jrnl. 19 Dec., He talks of..making sales of our interest..which would put a hedge round his finances. 1879 Farrar St. Paul I. 148 The Pharisees regarded it as the main function of their existence to raise a hedge around the Law. |
5. spec. Betting. [
f. hedge v. 8.] The act of hedging; a means of hedging. Also
Commercial,
Financial, and
transf. (
cf. hedge v. 8 c).
| 1736 Fielding Pasquin iii. i, S. That's laying against yourself, Mr. Trapwit. T. I love a hedge, sir. 1801 Sporting Mag. XVIII. 100 To make a hedge; to secure a bet, or wager, laid on one side, by taking the odds on the other. 1805 Windham Speeches Parl. 26 Mar. (1812) II. 298 What, in the sporting language was called ‘a hedge’, the effect of which was, that there was a chance the Right Honourable Gentleman would at all events win. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, The horse is no use to you. He won't win, but I want him as a hedge. 1917 A. W. Atwood Exchanges & Speculation xiv. 196 The local elevator companies..place their hedges as soon as they begin to accumulate supplies of grain. 1955 Times 8 June 9/2 Your board are keenly aware of the need that the group should continue to build up, in the form of profitable interests elsewhere, ‘hedges’ against catastrophe in British Guiana. Ibid. 29 June 11/3 As for the hedge of going into television itself that may save the property but it will not save the Press. 1957 Economist 12 Oct. 152/2 In France, wool was probably taken into stock as a hedge against currency devaluation and the pressure of credit restriction is also at work there. 1958 Punch 19 Nov. 669/2 A good unit trust group..provides the best way of combining the safety of numbers with the promise of participating in the economic growth that lies before us and of providing a hedge against inflation. 1959 Ibid. 19 Aug. 54/2 The share of these companies would seem to be a perfect election hedge. |
6. Phrases and proverbs.
a. to hang (be hung) on (in) the hedge: to be put on one side, to be ‘on the shelf’.
to be on the right (better, safer) or wrong side of the hedge: to be in a right or wrong position.
to take a sheet off a hedge: to steal openly.
to take hedge: to depart.
the only stick left in one's hedge: one's only resource.
by hedge or by stile (see
quot. 1700).
to be on the hedge = to ‘sit on the fence’.
| c 1510 Hickscorner 17 Ye whan my soule hangeth on the hedge cast stones. 1600 Holland Livy lxix. Epit. 1246 One who ever loved to be on the better side of the hedge [L. secundam fortunam transire]. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 27 He durst as well take a sheet of an hedge, as come within the cracke of a pistoll. 1638 Ford Lady's Trial iv. ii, They durst not give the souse, And so took hedge. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 64 That much talked of, and employed distinction..of implicite, and explicite, faith..may be hanged on the hedge, for any use is of it. 1644 Vicars Jehovah-Jireh 196 Those two Regiments were the onely stick they now had left in their hedge. 1653 Baxter Worc. Petit. Def. 24 If you say, We have too much in any of these particulars; then we are on the safer side the hedge. 1666 Pepys Diary 27 Oct., The business of money hangs in the hedge. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, By Hedge or by Style, by Hook or by Crook. 1816 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. s.v., To be on the wrong side of the hedge, or mistaken, hallucinor, erro. |
b. Other locutions of obvious meaning.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 56 Where the hedge is lowest, men maie soonest ouer. 1563 Winȝet Wks. (1888) II. 54 The serpent sal byte him quha cuttis the haige. 1591 Lyly Endym. iii. iii, Some men may better steale a horse, then another looke over the hedge. a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 223 Men are still apt to climb over the hedg where it is lowest. 1869 Hazlitt Prov. 201 Hedges have eyes and walls have ears. 1892 Daily News 4 July 3/1 The fog..hanging like a heavy pall ‘as thick as a hedge’. |
7. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib., ‘of or for a hedge’, as
hedge-bottom,
hedge-cricket,
hedge-fence,
hedge-flower,
hedge-fruit,
hedge-knife,
hedge-plant,
hedge-scissors,
hedge-shears,
hedge spade,
hedge-stake,
hedge-tree,
hedge-weed,
hedge-wren.
b. objective and
obj. gen., as
hedge-breaker,
hedge-breaking,
hedge-clipper,
hedge-cutter,
hedge-cutting,
hedge-maker.
c. instrumental, as
hedge-bound.
| 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies i. xxxvi. (1645) 386 Hares..hide themselves in *hedge bottomes, or in woods. 1816 Ainsworth's Lat. Dict. s.v., She lays her eggs in hedge bottoms. |
| 1631 Star Chamb. Cases (Camden) 62 As *hedge-breakers or breakers of the peace they put them in the stockes. |
| 1785 J. Phillips Treat. Inland Navig. 19 Poor people who now destroy all the hedges..will find *hedge-breaking a losing trade. |
| 1871 W. H. Beever Daily Life Farm i. 6 Heaps of fire-wood and *hedge-clippings. |
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. i. 2 He can come no other way but by this *hedge corner. |
| 1820 Keats To Autumn in Lamia, etc. 139 *Hedge-crickets sing. |
| 1881 Encycl. Brit. XII. 234/1 A new instrument for clipping hedges, Ridgway's *hedge-cutter. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 2 Feb. 80/1 There was a record entry of nearly 100 mechanical hedge-cutters. 1971 P. Gresswell Environment 125 The mechanical hedge⁓cutter clears the young saplings. |
| 1899 Westm. Gaz. 22 Dec. 1/3 *Hedge-cutting competitions have a..useful effect in checking the use of barbed wire. |
| a 1774 Harte Eulogius in Chalmers Eng. Poets (1810) XVI. 386 Deck'd..With poor *hedge-flow'rs. |
| 1647 Trapp Comm. Matt. xv. 27 Those that are hunger-starved are glad to feed upon *hedge-fruit. |
| 1846 Worcester, *Hedge-knife, an instrument for trimming hedges. |
| 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 697/21 Hic septor, a *hegmaker. |
| 1758 Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornwall 229 Hill and *hedge plants. 1887 Gardening 10 Dec. 553/2 Laurustinus is used here largely as a hedge plant. |
| 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 44 [Pruning instruments] resembling common *hedge-shears. |
| 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. ii. 326 They haue some of them beene the old *hedgstakes of the presse. 1843 Zoologist I. 97, I generally have a stout hedge-stake or clothes-prop to try the soundings with. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Marmaux, Arbres mar., *Hedge-trees, wild trees. |
| 1591 F. Sparry tr. Cattan's Geomancie 73 A number of thieves and *hedge walkers. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 1064/1 Sisymbrium officinale..a common *hedge-weed. |
| 1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm (1871) II. 473 A small useful implement is the *hedge weed-hook..which pulls out the weeds between the hedge-roots. |
| 1899 Westm. Gaz. 21 July 2/3 The swallow does not fear us, the *hedge-wren does not flout us. 1907 Academy 9 Feb. 131/2 The hedge-wren..Is out in the open. |
8. a. Born, brought up, habitually sleeping, sheltering, or plying their trade under hedges, or by the road-side (and hence used generally as an attribute expressing contempt), as
hedge-bantling,
hedge-brat,
hedge-chaplain,
hedge-curate,
hedge-doctor,
hedge-lawyer,
hedge-parson,
hedge-player,
hedge-poet,
hedge-wench,
hedge-whore, etc. Also
hedge-priest.
b. Done, performed, produced, worked, under a hedge, in by-ways, or clandestinely, as
hedge-marriage,
hedge-notes,
hedge-press,
hedge-rimes.
c. Of such kind as is met with by the way-side; of mean, inferior, ‘common’, ‘third-rate’ quality, and generally as a contemptuous adjunct, as
hedge-alehouse,
hedge-inn,
hedge-lodging,
hedge-tavern,
hedge-wine, etc. Also
hedge-school.
| c 1530 Jyl of Breyntford's Test. 331 A hedge Curat, with as moche wit as a calf. 1546 Bale Eng. Votaries ii. (1550) L iij, They..continued vnder the slender name of secular priests or hedge chaplains. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 108 A runnagat hedgebrat. 1590 R. W. 3 Lds. & 3 Ladies Lond. in Hazl. Dodsley VI. 421 This blindfold buzzardly hedge-wench. 1641 Brome Jovial Crew v. Wks. 1873 III. 435 Hedge-birds said you? Hedge Lady-birds, Hedge Cavaliers, Hedge Souldier, Hedge Lawyer, Hedge Fidlers, Hedge Poet, Hedge Players, and a Hedge Priest among 'em. 1656 W. D. tr. Comenius' Gate Lat. Unl. §804. 251 Hee doth not rashly venture upon the cure (as Quack-salvers, and Hedg-doctors are wont). 1711 Swift Rem. Let. to 7 Lds. Wks. 1814 IV. 196 These hedge-writers (a phrase I unwillingly lend him, because it cost me some pains to invent) seldom speak a word against any of the late ministry. 1738 Thyer in Byrom's Rem. (1856) II. i. 198, I find your curiosity tempted into a hedge bookseller's in some bye-lane. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. lxxxvii. (1779) IV. 34 This hedge inamorata. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxi, She ran out into a horrid description of a hedge-ruffian. 1822 ― Nigel xvii, A hedge-parson, or buckle-beggar, as that order of priesthood has been irreverently termed. 1855 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. (ed. 2) I. 183 Not hedge-lawyers, as Captain Lennox used to call those men in his company who questioned and would know the reason for every order. |
| b. a 1667 Cowley Answ. Verses fr. Jersey 13 Such Base, Rough, Crabbed, Hedge-Rhimes, as ev'n set the Hearers Ears on Edge. 1679 Mulgrave Ess. Sat. in Dryden's Wks. (1821) XIII. 53 When they began to be somewhat better bred..they left these hedge-notes for another sort of poem, somewhat polished. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. Wks. 1755 V. ii. 7 Corrector of a hedge-press in some blind alley about Little Britain. 1847–78 Halliwell, Hedge-marriage, a secret clandestine marriage. North. |
| c. 1594 Nashe Terrors Nt. Wks. 1883–4 III. 267 Hedge wine and leane mutton. 1688 Shadwell Sqr. Alsatia i. i, Is not rich generous wine better than your poor Hedge-Wine stum'd? a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Hedge-Tavern or Ale-house, a Jilting, Sharping Tavern, or Blind Alehouse. 1711 Swift Lett. (1767) III. 203, I was forced to go to a little hedge place for my dinner. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. (1812) I. 38 A small hedge alehouse. 1816 Scott Fam. Lett. 26 Aug. (1894) I. xii. 368 Otterbourne..is an indifferent sort of hedge inn. |
d. Hence passing into an
adj. with sense ‘Mean, third-rate, paltry, despicable, rascally’.
| 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden Wks. 1883–4 III. 38 Rascally hedge rak't vp termes. a 1734 North Exam. iii. viii. §78 (1740) 643 These are hedge Objections. When nothing can be said against the Matter, they fall upon the Manner, and in Circumstances not material. a 1745 Swift (J.), The clergy do much better than a little hedge, contemptible, illiterate vicar can be presumed to do. |
9. Special combs.:
hedge-accentor, the hedge-sparrow;
† hedge-binding, something used to bind together the bushes composing a hedge;
hedge-born ppl. a., born under a hedge, of low or mean birth;
hedge-brow (see
quot.);
hedge-bush, a bush used to make a hedge,
spec. hawthorn;
hedge-carpenter, one whose business is to repair fences; so
hedge-carpentering;
hedge-chafer, the cockchafer;
hedge-chanter,
-chat, the hedge-sparrow;
hedge-clause U.S., a safeguarding clause in a contract;
hedge-crocus, an itinerant quack-doctor: see
crocus 4;
hedge-fence, a hedge serving as a fence;
hedge-fight, a fight under cover of hedges or other shelters, as opposed to a pitched battle;
hedge-fire, firing from a hedge;
† hedge-frog, a toad;
hedge-green, the green headland in a ploughed field;
hedge-grown a. (see
quots.);
hedge-hook, a bill-hook for trimming hedges;
hedge-hop v. colloq., to fly in an aircraft at low levels so as to suggest hopping over hedges; so
hedge-hopper,
-hopping vbl. n. and ppl. a.; also
fig.;
hedge-planter, ‘a frame for holding plants in order as to distance and position while being set in the furrow prepared for them’ (Knight
Dict. Mech. 1875);
hedge-popping, shooting from behind a hedge;
hedge-pulling, the pulling of firewood out of a hedge;
hedge-rise (see
quot.);
hedge-rustic, the moth
Luperina Cespitis;
hedge selling (see 5 above and
hedge v. 8 c);
hedge-shrew, ? the shrew-mouse;
hedge trimmer (see
trimmer 3);
hedge trimming, (
a) (see
trimming vbl. n. 1 b); (
b) (see
trimming vbl. n. 1 c);
hedge-warbler, the hedge-sparrow;
hedge-wise adv., in the fashion of a hedge. Also
hedge-bill, etc.
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, *Hedge-accentor, the hedge-sparrow. |
| 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burn. Pestle ii. iv, He came and basted me with a *hedge-binding. |
| 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. i. 43 Like a *Hedge-borne Swaine, That doth presume to boast of Gentle blood. |
| 1750 W. Ellis Mod. Husb. III. i. 37 (E.D.S.) Where bushes, or other trumpery, that grew near hedges, have been grubbed up, which we call *hedge-brows. |
| 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 351 The pricking Blackthorne, the *hedge bushe, the Bryer, the bramble. 1859 W. S. Coleman Woodlands (1862) 38 The Maple, from its valuable qualities as a hedge-bush. |
| 1888 T. Hardy Wessex Tales I. 29 ‘You may generally tell what a man is by his claws’, observed the *hedge-carpenter, looking at his own hands. |
| 1878 Jefferies Gamekeeper at H. iii. 55 *Hedge-carpentering was..a distinct business, followed by one or two men in every locality. |
| 1797 T. Bewick Brit. Birds (1847) I. 79 Rooks are fond of the erucæ of the *hedge-chafer. |
| 1882 A. Hepburn in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. No. 3. 504 The Redbreast and *Hedgechanter were plentiful. |
| 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 91 No music's heard the fields among; Save where the *hedge-chats chittering play. |
| 1928 Sat. Even. Post 10 Mar. 185/2 In the Wall Street language..*hedge clauses..signify that if the representations turn out to be wrong the banker shall not be held accountable. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 424 *Hedge crocusses—men who sell corn salve, or ‘four pills a penny’, to cure anything, and go from house to house in the country. |
| 1662 Portsmouth (R.I.) Rec. 396 The said fence..provided that it be a *hedge fence. 1778 Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. LII. 13 Seeing this hedge fence, they might take it to be a breastwork thrown up to annoy them. 1826–44 Loudon Encycl. Agric. 475 Hedge fences are of two kinds: either..of dead materials, or..of living plants. |
| 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 213 It was a kind of a *hedge-fight, for neither army was drawn out in the field..They fought twice through the town..and in the hedges and lanes with exceeding fury. |
| 1859 Tennent Ceylon II. viii. v. 372 A *hedge-fire of musketry was kept up in the rear of the terrified elephants. |
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Vn verdier..a kinde of tode or *hedge frogge. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 450 The hedge frog, otherwise called a toad. |
| 1732 W. Ellis Gloss. to Pract. Farmer s.v. Baulks of grass (E.D.S.), Those which some call *hedge-greens; they lie next to the hedges in ploughed fields, and serve to turn the plough-horses on. |
| 1820 Keats Fancy in Lamia, etc. 124 The first *Hedge-grown primrose that hath burst. 1900 Daily Express 3 Aug. 2/7 Barley is not so good this year, for it has come up irregularly..; barley of this character is known with us as a ‘hedge-grown crop’. |
| 1890 Sale Catal. Suffield House near Derby, *Hedge hook and mittens. |
| 1926 Nat. Geogr. Mag. Jan. 18/2 Back he'd go ‘upstairs’ under a 200-foot ceiling, and *hedge-hop along 20 miles or so, to the next emergency field. 1928 Daily Express 21 May 10/3 They can ‘hedge-hop’ with skill or fly to the greater heights with as much impunity as a man pilot. 1940 ‘Gun Buster’ Return via Dunkirk ii. xi. 171 A German plane hedge-hopped right over us. 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File vii. 49 The machine [sc. a helicopter]..hedge-hopped in 100 m.p.h. gallops towards the sea. |
| 1940 H. E Baughman Aviation Dict. 96/1 *Hedge-hopper airplane (slang), any small, under-powered plane with enough power and lift to get off the ground a few feet for a brief period of time. 1957 R. W. Zandvoort et al. Wartime Eng. 127 Hedge-hopper, a low-flying aircraft. |
| 1919 R. H. Reece Night Bombing with Bedouins 23 The British sport of ‘*hedge-hopping’, i.e., flying close to the ground and ‘zooming’ up over trees. 1939 War Illustr. 11 Nov. 286 The German pilot's story of his eventful pursuit of a hedge-hopping English 'plane. 1955 Amer. Speech XXX. 72 Hedge-hopping..took on a special meaning in the 1952 presidential campaign—using an airplane in political campaigning. 1957 L. Durrell Bitter Lemons 100 My own ambitions were more hedge-hopping and my means forbade me to indulge in such delightful fantasies. |
| 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. i. i. §5. 8 Some *hedge-popping boy is made to bear the blame. |
| 1887 C. J. Ribton-Turner Vagrants & Vagrancy 205 Six women were in the year 1800 stripped to the waist and flogged..for ‘*hedge pulling’ under the Acts of 1766 and 1768. |
| 1828 Craven Dial., *Hedge-rise, underwood for making hedges. |
| 1862 E. Newman Brit. Moths (1874) 297 The *Hedge Rustic..appears on the wing in August. |
| 1920 J. Stephenson Princ. Commercial Corr. ii. xiii. 151 Further liquidation and some *hedge selling caused another decline. 1930 Daily Express 8 Sept. 2/7 A reaction occurred owing to liquidation, hedge selling, a bearish crop estimate. 1964 Financial Times 12 Mar. 2/7 Selling was stop loss, together with some hedge selling. |
| 1841 Browning Pippa Passes Concl. 12 But winter hastens at summer's end, And fire-fly, *hedge-shrew, lob-worm, pray, How fare they? |
| 1870 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. VIII. 18 For want of opportunity there had been no test made of the *Hedge Trimmer, entered by D. Oliver, of Galesburg, Ill. 1961 Times 26 May 16/7 Hedge-trimmers and verge-cutters are a common part of the roadside scene. |
| 1859 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. III. 362, I believe that the men are..here present, who will live to see..*hedge trimming &c., done by steam. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 12 Jan. 63/2 Disposing of hedge-trimmings. |
| 1797–1804 T. Bewick Brit. Birds (1847) I. 179 *Hedge Warbler. Hedge Sparrow. |
| 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Garden fences, Rather to be handprun'd with a Knife than clipt or struck up *Hedgewise with a Hook. |
10. In names of plants and fruits growing in hedges, as
hedge-apple,
hedge-mallow,
hedge-nut,
hedge-pear,
hedge-rose;
hedge-bedstraw, the white-flowered species,
Galium Mollugo;
hedge-bell(s,
hedge-bindweed, the Greater Bindweed,
Convolvulus (or
Calystegia)
sepium; also
erron. the Field Bindweed,
C. arvensis;
hedge-cactus U.S., a cactus (
Cereus peruvianus) grown as a hedge-plant;
† hedge fumitory,
Corydalis claviculata;
hedge-garlic,
Sisymbrium Alliaria (
Alliaria officinalis), also called garlic mustard, a common cruciferous weed with an odour like garlic;
hedge-laurel, name of various species of
Pittosporum, a genus of shrubs or small trees found in Australia and New Zealand;
hedge-maids, a local name of Ground Ivy
= haymaids;
hedge-mushroom,
Agaricus arvensis;
hedge-mustard, the cruciferous plant
Sisymbrium officinale, a common weed with small yellow flowers; also applied to plants of the genus
Erysimum;
hedge-nettle, name for labiate plants of the genus
Stachys,
esp. S. sylvatica, also called
hedge woundwort;
hedge-parsley, common name of the genus
Torilis,
esp. T. Anthriscus, an umbelliferous weed with finely-divided leaves; also applied to various species of
Caucalis;
hedge-peak,
-pick,
-speak, local names for the wild hep, the fruit of the dog-rose; also for the sloe,
esp. a small kind of sloe;
hedge pink, the Soapwort,
Saponaria officinalis;
hedge-taper, the Great Mullein
= hag-taper;
hedge-thorn, a thorn-bush growing in a hedge,
esp. the hawthorn;
hedge-vine (
heg-vine), name given by Turner to
Clematis Vitalba;
hedge violet,
Viola sylvatica;
hedge woundwort,
Stachys sylvatica.
| 1617 Minsheu Ductor, *Hedge-apple..Vi[de] Crab, or Arbut. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cccxvii. (1633) 863 Called in English Bindeweed and *Hedgebels. |
| 1883 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xxxvi. 593 There is..the *hedge cactus, with which Mexicans fence their fields. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xv. 24 Henfoote or *hedge Fumeterre..is of the same nature and vertue as the other Fumeterre. |
| 1836 Penny Cycl. V. 251 The common *hedge mallow. |
| 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. xxii. 399 *Hedge Mustard..opens the Lungs, and cures an old cough. |
| 1678 Littleton Lat. Dict., *Hedge-nettle, Galeopsis. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. iv. 45 Strong smelling and stinking as hedge nettle. 1869 J. G. Fuller Flower Gatherers 277 There are several other species of the Hedge-nettle, some of them without hairs. |
| 1620 Venner Via Recta vii. 127 The common *Hedge, or Hasell⁓nut. |
| 1830 Withering's Brit. Plants (1845) 143 Torilis anthriscus, Upright *Hedge-parsley. 1889 Jefferies Field & Hedgerow 159 The broad hedge-parsley leaves, tunnelled by leaf-miners. |
| 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. (N.), The bullesse, *hedg-peake, hips, and hawes, and sloes, Attend his appetite where e'er he goes. 1678 E. Howard Man of Newmarket (N.), I judge it is with men as it is with plants; take one that blossoms too soon, 't will starve a sloe or hedg-peake. a 1722 Lisle Observ. Husb. (1757) 432 The slow, or hedge-peak-bush is apt to die in the hill country. |
| 1609 Sir R. Shirley in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 95 Their victuals..are acorns and *hedge-pears. |
| 1875 Tennyson Q. Mary iii. iv, Like the wild *hedge-rose Of a soft winter, possible, not probable. |
| 1847–78 Halliwell, *Hedge-speaks, hips. Glouc. 1855 Househ. Words X. 172 That's the very bush..it's grow'd to almost a tree, and bears hedge-speakes. 1893 Wiltsh. Gloss. s.v. Sloe, In N. Wilts, at Huish, Slŏns are large and Hedge-speäks small. |
| 1585 Lupton Thous. Notable Th. (1601) 2 An hearb called Mullen, some calls it *Hedge taper. |
| 1640 Parkinson Theat. Bot. 1026 The Hawthorne is called..Hawthorne or *Hedgethorne, Whitethorne and May or May-bush. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (1881) 81 It maye be called in Englishe *Heguine or Downiuine. |
▸
hedge fund n. Finance (
orig. U.S.) a largely unregulated investment fund formed as a private limited partnership.
| 1966 N.Y. Times 26 Nov. 53/5 One of Wall Street's little known but highly profitable vehicles for private investors—the *hedge fund. These hedge funds are limited partnerships, as contrasted to mutual funds that are open to the public. 1977 Time 13 June 47/3 Howard runs a private investment portfolio—known as a ‘hedge fund’—that has earned more than 1,000% on its original investment in 1969. 2002 New Yorker 20 May 111/3 Although plenty of sane men and women run hedge funds, the funds seem to have been designed for manic personalities. |
▪ II. hedge, v. Forms: 4–5
hegge(n,
-yn, 5
hedgyn, 5–6
hege, 6–
hedge.
[f. hedge n.] 1. trans. To surround with a hedge or fence as a boundary, or for purposes of defence. Also with
in,
about.
to hedge off: to fence off with a hedge.
| [c 1000 Rectitud. Sing. Pers. c. 2 in Schmid Gesetze 372 On sumon he sceal..bytlian, and burh heᵹeᵹian.] 1388 Wyclif Matt. xxi. 33 An hosebonde man..plauntide a vynȝerd, and heggide it aboute. c 1449 Pecock Repr. v. vi. 517 Heggis and wardis..for to close and kepe and hegge yn. 1483 Cath. Angl. 180/1 To Hege, ubi to close. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 53 b, Defensed & hedged about with the sacramentes of Chrystes chirche. 1652 Ashmole Theat. Chem. 214 Heggyd and dychyd to make yt sure and strong. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 37 Pallisadoes..hedge in at least a Mile of ground. 1755 Smollett Quix. (1803) I. 233 Till you hedge in the sky, the starlings will fly. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 443 In need of being watered, and of being hedged round. 1897 Advance (Chicago) 14 Jan. 58/3 A portion of the home-park is hedged-off for her particular diversions. |
2. intr. or absol. To construct hedges or fences.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vi. 19 Heggen oþer harwen..oþer swyn oþer gees dryue. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 232/2 Hedgyn, or make an hedge..sepio. 1573 Tusser Husb. xx. (1878) 59 No season to hedge. a 1845 Hood Lay of Labourer ii, To hedge, or dig the ditch. |
3. a. trans. To shape (trees) to form hedges.
| 1765 Earl of Haddington Forest-trees 15 The hedging of trees, in my opinion, takes away much of the beauty they have in their natural shape. |
b. To arrange so as to form a barrier.
| 1812 Examiner 25 May 332/1 As well..oppose the inundations of the mountain torrent by hedging up piles of chaff. 1868 A. I. Menken Infelicia 15, I know that ye [Philistines] are hedged on the borders of my path. |
† 4. fig. To bound, limit, define.
Obs.| c 1440 York Myst. xli. 206 The lawe is hedgyd for theme right playn, That they muste be puryfied agayne. 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1567) 74 b, For, this worde [wife] in the firste Proposicion, is hedged with her circumstaunce, that is to saie, adultrie, whiche causeth diuorcement. |
5. a. To surround as with a hedge or fence. Also with
in,
about,
around.
| c 1500 Babees Book 375 The ffirst cours: brawne, with the bory shed, lying in a felde, hegge about with a scriptur, sayng on this wyse; Welcombe you bretheren godely in this hall. 1581 Sidney Astr. & Stella lxxv, The floure-de-luce..strongly hedg'd of bloudy lyons' pawes. 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 26 England hedg'd in with the maine, That Water-walled Bulwarke. 1602 ― Ham. iv. v. 123 There's such Diuinity doth hedge a King. 1659 D. Pell Impr. Sea 36 note, They would hedge him about with Pearl. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 197 ¶3 Hedged in by Logical Terms. 1894 Nature 26 July 295 A pursuit which is further hedged about with a formidable and unwieldy terminology. |
b. To hem
in, so as to prevent escape or free movement; to confine, restrict.
| 1549 Latimer 1st Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 27, I will hedge strongly thy waye. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 2 The Duke..seeyng all the country ready set to hedge him in. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. i. 18 If my Father had not scanted me, And hedg'd me by his wit to yeelde my selfe His wife who wins me by that meanes. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 12 This excellent grace hedgeth his heart. a 1732 T. Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 77 To hedge you up from courses of sin. 1828 D'Israeli Chas. I, II. v. 108 The King was hedged in by the most thorny difficulties. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. x. 66, I found myself so hedged in by fissures [etc.]. 1863 Mrs. J. H. Riddell World in Ch. (1865) 66 ‘By Jove, I am getting hedged’, thought the young man. |
† c. In reference to trade; to restrict or confine to one's own use; to monopolize.
Obs.| 1701 J. Law Counc. Trade (1751) 110 Persuaded..that by the meer means or ways of monopoly, praeemption and exclusion, they could hedge in the herring, code and other sorts of fish, as some of the same stamp..that they can thus not only hedge in their wool, but hinder it or anything like it to grow elsewhere. Ibid. 149 They are at least as incapable of hedging in the herring, white, and other sorts of fish, as our ancestors have been. 1832 Westm. Rev. XVII. 273 The attempt to hedge-in gold and silver. |
6. a. To obstruct as with a hedge; also
hedge up.
| 1535 Coverdale Job xix. 8 He hath hedged up my path. 1620 J. Wilkinson Courts Leet 119 If any high-waies or foote-pathes to Church, Mill, or Market bee stopped or hedged up. 1854 J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. xiv. 259 The path of the army seemed now entirely hedged up. 1864 D. G. Mitchell Sev. Stories 227 The difficulties which hedged all approach. |
† b. hedge out: to shut or keep out, to exclude.
| 1549 Latimer 4th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 109 Naye ye be hedged out of that lybertye. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. i. 65 Nay this shall not hedge vs out, weele heare you sing certainely. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. ii. Wks. (1847) 496/2 Lollius Urbius..drew another wall of turves..to hedge out incursions from the north. 1701 J. Law Counc. Trade (1751) 256 Money..[is] capable of being hedged out, but never of being hedged in, by restraints, coercions, and prohibitions. |
† 7. hedge in.
a. To secure (a debt),
app. usually by including it in a larger one for which better security is obtained.
Obs.| 1616 B. Jonson Devil an Ass iii. i, Some pretty ring or jewel, Of fifty or threescore pound.—Make it a hundred, And hedge in the last forty, that I owe you, And your own price for the ring. c 1620 Donne Let. to Sir H. Goodyere Wks. VI. 382 You think that you have Hedged in that Debt by a greater, by your Letter in Verse. 1667 Waterhouse Fire Lond. 165 To inforce him to hedg in his first Debt by addition of money lent. |
† b. To introduce and include within the limits of something else; to thrust in, intrude, insinuate. (Perh. in some later instances associated with
edge in,
edge v.
1 6 b.)
Obs.| 1664 J. Wilson Cheats iii. ii, Pox o' these bonds! I must persuade him to take another {pstlg}1000, and hedge all into one good mortgage. 1665 J. Webb Stone-Heng (1725) 163 He could never..have any pretence, to hedge in other Antiquities at his Pleasure. a 1700 Dryden (J.), I pr'y thee, let me hedge one moment more Into thy promise. 1729 Swift Direct. Servants, Footman (1745) 47 When you are sent on an Errand, be sure to hedge in some business of your own. a 1764 Lloyd Ep. to Colman Poet. Wks. 1774 I. 167 Proud to hedge in my scraps of wit. |
8. a. trans. To secure oneself against loss on (a bet or other speculation) by making transactions on the other side so as to compensate more or less for possible loss on the first. Formerly also with
in,
off. Also
fig. (In origin
app. related to 7 a.)
| 1672 Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Rehearsal (1714) 31 Now, Criticks, do your worst, that here are met; For, like a Rook, I have hedg'd in my Bet. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Hedge, to secure a desperate Bet, Wager or Debt. a 1734 North Exam. iii. vi. §65 (1740) 471 Abetting on one Side or the other, to hedge (as they call it) their own Stake. 1774 Westm. Mag. II. 583 He..contrived now-and-then prudently to hedge in a bet, by which means he soon found himself in possession of a sum which placed him above the abject dependence of a waiter. 1813 Sporting Mag. XLI. 4, I kept hedging my bets as I laid them. 1820 Ibid. New Ser. VI. 79 This..induced most of the sporting men to hedge off their bets. 1887 E. J. Goodman Too Curious xi, Backing the horse named and dexterously hedging his other investments. |
b. absol. or intr.| 1676 Marvell Mr. Smirke I, [Some] like cunning Betters, sate judiciously hedging, and so ordered their matters that which side soever prevailed, they would be sure to be the Winners. a 1677 Barrow Serm. (1686) III. 397 This rooking trick, to hedge thus, and save stakes, to play fast and loose, to dodge and shuffle with God, God doth not like. 1761 Colman Jealous Wife v. ii, When one has made a bad bet, it is best to hedge off, you know. 1819 Sporting Mag. IV. 76 No man should venture to bet, who could not hedge well. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvii. IV. 57 Godolphin..began to think..that he had betted too deep on the Revolution, and that it was time to hedge. 1894 Wolseley Marlborough II. lxxviii. 316 He played for averages..when, therefore, the stakes became high he invariably ‘hedged’ against all serious loss. |
c. To insure against risk of loss by entering into contracts which balance one another. Also
trans., to operate in (a commodity) in this way.
| 1909 I. Fisher Elimination of Risk 12 An important method of shifting risks is ‘hedging’, whereby a dealer, for instance in transporting wheat, may be relieved of the risk of a change of price. 1917 A. W. Atwood Exchanges & Speculation xiv. 195 Hedging..consists in matching a purchase with a sale, or vice versa; in other words, it consists in making a purchase or sale for future delivery to offset and protect an actual merchandising transaction. Ibid. xiv. 197 It makes little difference to an elevator if wheat rises or falls fifty cents a bushel, provided its holdings have been hedged. 1957 Times 19 Dec. 16/1 We have drawn the attention of the stockholders to the difficulty in hedging our unsold stocks against a fall in cotton content value. |
9. intr. To go aside from the straight way; to shift, shuffle, dodge; to trim; to avoid committing oneself irrevocably; to leave open a way of retreat or escape.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 26, I, I, I my selfe sometimes, leauing the feare of heauen on the left hand..am faine to shuffle: to hedge, and to lurch. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 158 If you giue way, Or hedge aside from the direct forth right. 1611 Cotgr., Harceler, to haggle, hucke, hedge, or paulter long in the buying of a commodity. 1861 O. W. Holmes Pages fr. Old Vol. Life, Bread & Newsp. (1891) 12 Prophesy as much as you like, but always hedge. 1866 Lond. Rev. 8 Dec. 623 He has hedged with such dexterity upon this point that his clergy must be sorely puzzled to determine how far they may go in ritualistic observances. 1888 ‘Cushing’ Blacksm. Voe I. 245 For a while the miller hedged and dodged, but being pressed hard he finally admitted the truth. 1894 Wolseley Marlborough II. 291 It was..natural to him to trim and hedge in politics. |