hedge /hej/

1. A close row of bushes or small trees serving as a fence
2. A barrier, protection (figurative)
3. An act of securing, or something that secures, protection against (esp financial) loss

1. To enclose with a hedge
2. To obstruct
3. To surround
4. To guard
5. To protect oneself from loss on, by compensatory transactions, eg bets on the other side

1. To make hedges
2. To shuffle, be evasive, eg in an argument
3. To be shifty
4. To buy or sell something as a financial hedge

1. Living in or frequenting hedges
2. Wayside
3. Used by, or only fit for, vagrants
4. Low
5. Debased

hedgˈer noun

A person who hedges or dresses hedges

hedgˈing noun

1. The work of a hedger
2. The action of the verb hedge

hedgˈy adjective

hedgeˈ-accenˈtor noun

The hedge sparrow

hedgeˈbill or hedgˈing-bill noun

A bill for dressing hedges, a kind of long-handled hatchet

hedgeˈ-born adjective

Born under a hedge, low-born

hedgeˈ-bote noun

A tenant's right to cut wood for repairing hedges or fences

hedgeˈ-creepˈer noun

A sneaky rogue

hedge fund noun

An investment fund based on a complex mathematical model, designed to minimize risk and produce high profits in the long term, but exposing investors to high risk in the short term

hedgeˈhog noun

1. A small prickly-backed insectivorous animal that lives in hedges and bushes, considered to have a pig-like snout
2. A prickly fruit, or prickly-fruited plant
3. Someone whose manners keep others at a distance
4. An offensive person
5. A small, strongly fortified, defensive position (milit sl)

hedgeˈ-hop intransitive verb (informal)

To fly low in an aircraft as if hopping over hedges

hedgeˈ-hyssop noun

A plant (genus Gratiola) of the figwort family

hedgeˈ-marriage noun

A clandestine marriage

hedgeˈ-mustard noun

A tall stiff cruciferous roadside weed (Sisymbrium officinale) with small yellow flowers, or a related species

hedgeˈ-parsley noun

An umbelliferous roadside weed (Torilis or Caucalis) with leaves rather like parsley

hedgeˈ-parson or hedgeˈ-priest noun

A disreputable, vagrant, or illiterate parson or priest

hedgeˈpig noun

A hedgehog

hedgeˈrow noun

A line of hedge, often with trees

hedgeˈ-school noun

1. An open-air school, common in Ireland in the 17c and 18c during the ban on Catholic education
2. A poorly equipped school

hedgeˈ-schoolmaster noun

hedge sparrow or formerly also hedge warbler noun

The dunnock (Prunella modularis), a small bird that frequents hedges, superficially like a sparrow but with a more slender bill

hedge trimmer noun

An electric tool for cutting back hedges, shrubs, etc

hedgeˈ-writer noun

A Grub Street author, a hack

• chokedamp
• chokedamps
• choke down
• choke-full
• chokehold
• chokeholds
• choke line
• choke off
• choke-pear
• choke-pears
• choker
• chokers
• chokes
• choke up
• chokey
• chokeys
• chokidar
• chokidars
• chokier
• chokies
• chokiest
• choking
• choking coil
• choking coils
• choko