Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To avoid (a blow, for example) by moving or shifting quickly aside.
- intransitive verb To evade (an obligation, for example) by cunning, trickery, or deceit.
- intransitive verb To blunt or reduce the intensity of (a section of a photograph) by shading during the printing process.
- intransitive verb To move aside or in a given direction by shifting or twisting suddenly.
- intransitive verb To evade something by cunning, trickery, or deceit.
- noun The act of dodging.
- noun A cunning or deceitful act intended to evade something or trick someone: synonym: wile.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A shifty or ingenious trick; an artifice; an evasion.
- In change-ringing, to change the place or order of (a bell) in the series used.
- noun Of a bell in change-ringing, a change in its place or order in the series used.
- To start suddenly aside; shift place by a sudden start, as to evade a blow or escape observation.
- To shift about; move cautiously, as in avoiding discovery, or in following and watching another's movements: as, he dodged along byways and hedges; the Indians dodged from tree to tree.
- To play tricks; be evasive; play fast and loose; raise expectations and disappoint them; quibble.
- To jog; walk in a slow, listless, or clumsy manner.
-     To evade by a sudden shift of place, or by trick or device; escape by starting aside, or by baffling or roundabout movements: as, to dodge a blow; to dodge a pursuer or a creditor; to dodge a perplexing question.
- To play fast and loose with; baffle by shifts and pretexts; trick.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To evade by a sudden shift of place; to escape by starting aside.
- transitive verb colloq. Fig.: To evade by craft
- transitive verb To follow by dodging, or suddenly shifting from place to place.
- intransitive verb To start suddenly aside, as to avoid a blow or a missile; to shift place by a sudden start.
- intransitive verb To evade a duty by low craft; to practice mean shifts; to use tricky devices; to play fast and loose; to quibble.
- noun colloq. The act of evading by some skillful movement; a sudden starting aside; hence, an artful device to evade, deceive, or cheat; a cunning trick; an artifice.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb   To avoid bymoving out of theway (oftensuddenly ).
- verb figuratively  To avoid ; tosidestep .
- verb archaic  To go hither andthither .
- verb photography  To decrease the exposure for certain areas of aprint in order to make themdarker (compareburn .
- noun   An act of dodging 
- noun   A trick ,evasion orwile 
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make a sudden movement in a new direction so as to avoid
- noun a statement that evades the question by cleverness or trickery
- noun a quick evasive movement
- verb avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)
- noun an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade
- verb move to and fro or from place to place usually in an irregular course
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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								It’s now almost as outdated in the neologism dodge as the suffixes -arama and -aholic. The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004 
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								It’s now almost as outdated in the neologism dodge as the suffixes -arama and -aholic. The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004 
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								The “pass it piecemeal” dodge is an inability to face consequences. 
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								The rejectionism dodge is not credible for three reasons: 
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								My family has always been big in dodge and it has never let us down. 
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								The “pass it piecemeal” dodge is an inability to face consequences. 
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								My family has always been big in dodge and it has never let us down. 
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								A popular dodge is to declare that the president exceeded the authority Congress granted him and allowed the war to become a distraction from the fight against terrorism, and to then express surprise that he could act so irresponsibly. 
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								A popular dodge is to declare that the president exceeded the authority Congress granted him and allowed the war to become a distraction from the fight against terrorism, and to then express surprise that he could act so irresponsibly. 
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								A popular dodge is to declare that the president exceeded the authority Congress granted him and allowed the war to become a distraction from the fight against terrorism, and to then express surprise that he could act so irresponsibly. 
meeralee commented on the word dodge
Ooh -- thanks for dodge! I think I need to be convinced about wheeze..
February 20, 2007