hedge

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A row of closely planted shrubs or low-growing trees forming a fence or boundary.
2. n. A line of people or objects forming a barrier: a hedge of spectators along the sidewalk.
3. n. A means of protection or defense, especially against financial loss: a hedge against inflation.
4. n. A securities transaction that reduces the risk on an existing investment position.
5. n. An intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement.
6. n. A word or phrase, such as possibly or I think, that mitigates or weakens the certainty of a statement.
7. v. To enclose or bound with or as if with hedges.
8. v. To hem in, hinder, or restrict with or as if with a hedge.
9. v. To minimize or protect against the loss of by counterbalancing one transaction, such as a bet, against another.
10. v. To plant or cultivate hedges.
11. v. To take compensatory measures so as to counterbalance possible loss.
12. v. To avoid making a clear, direct response or statement.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A barrier or fence formed by bushes or small trees growing close together, such as thorn-bushes or beeches, and sometimes by woven twigs or wattling; also, a closely planted row of any kind of shrubbery, as evergreens, whether intended as a fence or not. See hedge-plant. The hedge is the prevalent kind of fence in England, but is comparatively rare in the United States. Hedges, especially roadside hedges, are often used by vagabonds as places of shelter or resort; hence hedge is often used in composition to denote something mean, low, rustic: as, a hedge-priest; a hedge-school.
2. n. A structure made to lead fish into channels across which nets are spread.
3. To inclose or fence with a hedge; separate by a hedge: as, to hedge a field or garden.
4. To obstruct with a hedge or any barrier; stop or restrain by any kind of obstruction.
5. To surround with something as a barrier or a border; compass about; hem in.
6. In sporting, to protect by betting on both sides. See to hedge a bet, below.
7. To hide as in a hedge; shift; skulk.
8. In betting, to protect one's self from loss by cross-bets. See to hedge a bet, above.
9. Hence To provide a means of retreat or escape; avoid committing one's self irrevocably to anything.
10. To make or mend hedges.

Wiktionary

1. n. A thicket of bushes, usually thorn bushes; especially, such a thicket planted as a fence between any two portions of land; and also any sort of shrubbery, as evergreens, planted in a line or as a fence; particularly, such a thicket planted round a field to fence it, or in rows to separate the parts of a garden.
2. n. A non-committal or intentionally ambiguous statement.
3. n. finance Contract or arrangement reducing one's exposure to risk (for example the risk of price movements or interest rate movements).
4. n. UK, Ireland, noun adjunct Used attributively, with figurative indication of a person's upbringing, or professional activities, taking place by the side of the road; third-rate.
5. v. transitive To enclose.
6. v. transitive To obstruct.
7. v. transitive, finance To offset the risk associated with.
8. v. intransitive To avoid verbal commitment.
9. v. intransitive To construct or repair a hedge.
10. v. intransitive, finance To reduce one's exposure to risk.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A thicket of bushes, usually thorn bushes; especially, such a thicket planted as a fence between any two portions of land; and also any sort of shrubbery, as evergreens, planted in a line or as a fence; particularly, such a thicket planted round a field to fence it, or in rows to separate the parts of a garden.
2. v. To inclose or separate with a hedge; to fence with a thickly set line or thicket of shrubs or small trees.
3. v. To obstruct, as a road, with a barrier; to hinder from progress or success; -- sometimes with up and out.
4. v. To surround for defense; to guard; to protect; to hem (in).
5. v. To surround so as to prevent escape.
6. v. To protect oneself against excessive loss in an activity by taking a countervailing action.
7. v. To shelter one's self from danger, risk, duty, responsibility, etc., as if by hiding in or behind a hedge; to skulk; to slink; to shirk obligations.
8. v. (Betting) To reduce the risk of a wager by making a bet against the side or chance one has bet on.
9. v. To use reservations and qualifications in one's speech so as to avoid committing one's self to anything definite.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)
2. v. enclose or bound in with or as it with a hedge or hedges
3. v. minimize loss or risk
4. n. an intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement
5. v. hinder or restrict with or as if with a hedge
6. n. any technique designed to reduce or eliminate financial risk; for example, taking two positions that will offset each other if prices change
7. n. a fence formed by a row of closely planted shrubs or bushes