fudge

1
[ fuhj ]
See synonyms for fudge on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a soft candy made of sugar, butter, milk, chocolate, and sometimes nuts.

Origin of fudge

1
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 fudge2 (preparing the candy supposedly being an excuse to “fudge” on dormitory rules) are dubious and probably after-the-fact speculation

Other definitions for fudge (2 of 3)

fudge2
[ fuhj ]

verb (used without object),fudged, fudg·ing.
  1. to cheat (often followed by on): 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.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

verb (used with object),fudged, fudg·ing.
  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.

nounPrinting.
  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.

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

Origin of fudge

2
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”); fudge1 and fudge3 are developments of this word or are independent coinages

Other definitions for fudge (3 of 3)

fudge3
[ fuhj ]

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

verb (used without object),fudged, fudg·ing.
  1. to talk nonsense.

Origin of fudge

3
First recorded in 1690–1700; of uncertain origin; cf. fudge2

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fudge in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for fudge (1 of 3)

fudge1

/ (fʌdʒ) /


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

Origin of fudge

1
C19: of unknown origin

British Dictionary definitions for fudge (2 of 3)

fudge2

/ (fʌdʒ) /


noun
  1. foolishness; nonsense

interjection
  1. a mild exclamation of annoyance

verb
  1. (intr) to talk foolishly or emptily

Origin of fudge

2
C18: of uncertain origin

British Dictionary definitions for fudge (3 of 3)

fudge3

/ (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

  1. the late news so inserted

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

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

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

  2. (tr) to misrepresent; falsify

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

Origin of fudge

3
C19: see fadge

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012