hedge

Meanings

Noun

• A thicket of bushes or other shrubbery, especially one planted as a fence between two portions of land, or to separate the parts of a garden.
• A barrier (often consisting of a line of persons or objects) to protect someone or something from harm.
• 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.
• Contract or arrangement reducing one's exposure to risk (for example the risk of price movements or interest rate movements).
• Used attributively, with figurative indication of a person's upbringing, or professional activities, taking place by the side of the road; third-rate.

Verb

• To enclose with a hedge or hedges.
• To obstruct or surround.
• To offset the risk associated with.
• To avoid verbal commitment.
• To construct or repair a hedge.
• To reduce one's exposure to risk.

Origin

• From Middle English hegge, from Old English heċġ, from Proto-West Germanic *haggju, from Proto-Germanic *hagjō, from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰyóm ("enclosure"). Cognate with Dutch heg, German Hecke. quay. More at haw.
• From Middle English heggen, from the noun (see above).