hedging, vbl. n.
(ˈhɛdʒɪŋ)
[f. hedge v.]
1. The action of the verb hedge; the construction or repair of hedges.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 28 For dichying and hegging, and delvynge of tounes. 1481–93 Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 366 For woode makynge and hedgynge. 1663 Gerbier Counsel (1664) 52 Charges for hedging, forty shillings. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 53 No tithes shall be paid of sylva cædua employed in hedging, or for fuel. |
2. concr. Matter forming or made into a hedge.
| 1517 Domesday Inclos. (1897) I. 249 One acre of Errable land, with hedgyng and Dikyng. 1801 R. Gill Tint Quey in Chambers Pop. Hum. Scot. Poems (1862) 176 Whilk..had, by light o' day, Within the hedging made its way. |
3. The securing of, or limiting the possible loss on, a debt, bet, or the like: see hedge v. 7, 8.
| a 1631 Donne Serm. V. cxxviii. 301 All your Hedgings in of Debt, all your crafty Bargains. c 1770 C. Anstey Hor. Imit. Wks. (1808) 191 Hedging and odds and bets their theme. 1816 Sporting Mag. XLVII. 277 In a manner that will render the practice of hedging off rather precarious. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 172 An affair of bettings, and hedgings, and cheatings. 1917 [see hedge v. 8 c]. 1940 Economist 11 May 863/1 Much of the apparent speculation taking place in markets..is, in fact, justifiable hedging either against receipts of sterling..or against the holding of sterling assets... But over and above such hedging some outright speculation is also proceeding. 1954 Ibid. 22 May 642/2 The Liverpool market should..offer Lancashire a satisfactory hedging medium. 1958 Spectator 13 June 785/1 The tenacity of the ‘inflation hedging’ investor. |
4. Shuffling, dodging.
| 1722 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 645 Where was a great deal of hedging and political disputing. 1728 Ibid. III. 407 The plain shiftings and hedgings I have observed before the committee. 1826 Carlyle in Froude Life (1882) I. 352 Persuaded that he shall go to heaven, when his hedging here below is done. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as hedging time; esp. = used in hedging, as hedging cuff, hedging glove, hedging hook, hedging money.
| 1521 in Rogers Agric. & Prices III. 565/4, 3 pr. hedging cuffs & gloves {at} /6. 1530 Palsgr. 230/1 Hedgyng glove, moufle. 1611 Cotgr., Hayeson, hedging time, or, the season to make hedges in. 1827 in Hone Every-day Bk. II. 905 With..his bill-hook and hedging mittens in his hand. 1906 Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 235, I was cheated..over a pair of hedging-gloves. |