fudge

¹ American  

[fuhj] / fʌdʒ /

noun

1. a soft candy made of sugar, butter, milk, chocolate, and sometimes nuts.

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fudge ² American  

[fuhj] / fʌdʒ /

verb (used without object)

fudged, fudging

1. to cheat (often followed byon ).

   How many of you have fudged on your taxes?

2. to fail to fulfill an obligation.

   For a variety of reasons, they had fudged on their promise.

3. to avoid coming to grips with a subject, issue, etc..

   He fudged on the matter of whether he would retire at the end of his three-year term.

4. to tamper with or misrepresent something, as to produce a desired result or allow leeway for error.

   Some of the men and women fudged on their ages.

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verb (used with object)

fudged, fudging

1. to avoid coming to grips with (a subject, issue, etc.); evade; dodge.

   He fudged a few of the direct questions.

2. to tamper with or misrepresent.

   The suggestion is that they simply fudged the figures to make sales look more impressive.

noun

Printing.

1. a small stereotype or a few lines of specially prepared type, bearing a newspaper bulletin, for replacing a detachable part of a page plate without the need to replate the entire page.

2. the bulletin thus printed, often in color.

3. a machine or attachment for printing such a bulletin.

fudge ³ American  

[fuhj] / fʌdʒ /

noun

1. nonsense or foolishness (often used as an interjection).

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verb (used without object)

fudged, fudging

1. to talk nonsense.

fudge ¹ British  

/ fʌdʒ /

noun

1. a small section of type matter in a box in a newspaper allowing late news to be included without the whole page having to be remade

2. the box in which such type matter is placed

3. the late news so inserted

4. a machine attached to a newspaper press for printing this

5. an unsatisfactory compromise reached to evade a difficult problem or controversial issue

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verb

1. (tr) to make or adjust in a false or clumsy way

2. (tr) to misrepresent; falsify

3. to evade (a problem, issue, etc); dodge; avoid

fudge ² British  

/ fʌdʒ /

noun

1. foolishness; nonsense

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interjection

1. a mild exclamation of annoyance

verb

1. (intr) to talk foolishly or emptily

fudge ³ British  

/ fʌdʒ /

noun

1. a soft variously flavoured sweet made from sugar, butter, cream, etc

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Etymology

Origin of fudge¹

An Americanism dating to 1895–1900; of uncertain origin; the word was early in its history associated with female college campuses, where fudge-making was popular; however, attempts to explain it as a derivative of fudge ² ( def. ) (preparing the candy supposedly being an excuse to “fudge” on dormitory rules) are dubious and probably after-the-fact speculation

Origin of fudge²

First recorded in 1665–75; origin uncertain; in earliest sense, “to contrive clumsily,” perhaps expressive variant of fadge “to fit, agree, do” (akin to Middle English feien, Old English fēgan “to fit together, join, bind”); fudge ¹ and fudge ³ are developments of this word or are independent coinages

Origin of fudge³

First recorded in 1690–1700; of uncertain origin; fudge ²

Example Sentences

There are MPs who will fudge by saying they support both leaders.

From BBC

Internet phone wholesalers often operate across dozens of obscure international markets, and sell an intangible service—minutes of call traffic—that is easy to fudge on invoices and tax documents.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Henry’s the kind of guy who could fall off a building and land in a hot fudge sundae,” said Matt Angle, a Texas Democratic political consultant.

From The Wall Street Journal

One waste analyst described the solution as a "fudge".

From BBC

Maybe, as perhaps started last week, it will be a Magnificent Seven missing earnings, even by a penny, and investors start thinking, “If they can’t fudge a penny to hit the quarter, look out below.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• evade
• exaggerate
• falsify
• overstate