hedge

[hej]

noun

1. a row of bushes or small trees planted close together, especially when forming a fence or boundary; hedgerow.

   small fields separated by hedges.

2. any barrier or boundary.

   a hedge of stones.

3. an act or means of preventing complete loss of a bet, an argument, an investment, or the like, with a partially counterbalancing or qualifying one.

verb (used with object)

hedged, hedging 

1. to enclose with or separate by a hedge.

   to hedge a garden.

2. to surround and confine as if with a hedge; restrict (often followed by in, about, etc.).

   He felt hedged in by the rules of language.

3. to protect with qualifications that allow for unstated contingencies or for withdrawal from commitment.

   He hedged his program against attack and then presented it to the board.

4. to mitigate a possible loss by counterbalancing (one's bets, investments, etc.).

5. to prevent or hinder free movement; obstruct.

   to be hedged by poverty.

verb (used without object)

hedged, hedging 

1. to avoid a rigid commitment by qualifying or modifying a position so as to permit withdrawal.

   He felt that he was speaking too boldly and began to hedge before they could contradict him.

   Synonyms: waffle, temporize, delay, stall, evade

2. to prevent complete loss of a bet by betting an additional amount or amounts against the original bet.

3. Finance.,  to enter transactions that will protect against loss through a compensatory price movement.

hedge

/ hɛdʒ /

noun

1. a row of shrubs, bushes, or trees forming a boundary to a field, garden, etc

2. a barrier or protection against something

3. the act or a method of reducing the risk of financial loss on an investment, bet, etc

4. a cautious or evasive statement

5. (modifier; often in combination) low, inferior, or illiterate

   a hedge lawyer

verb

1. (tr) to enclose or separate with or as if with a hedge

2. (intr) to make or maintain a hedge, as by cutting and laying

3. (tr; often foll by in, about, or around) to hinder, obstruct, or restrict

4. (intr) to evade decision or action, esp by making noncommittal statements

5. (tr) to guard against the risk of loss in (a bet, the paying out of a win, etc), esp by laying bets with other bookmakers

6. (intr) to protect against financial loss through future price fluctuations, as by investing in futures

Other Word Forms

• hedgeless adjective
• unhedge verb (used with object)
• unhedged adjective
• well-hedged adjective
• hedgy adjective
• hedging noun
• hedger noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hedge¹

before 900; Middle English, Old English hegge; cognate with Dutch heg, German Hecke hedge, Old Norse heggr bird cherry

Word History and Origins

Origin of hedge¹

Old English hecg; related to Old High German heckia, Middle Dutch hegge; see _haw ¹

Example Sentences

For hedging purposes, it’s better when stocks move in the opposite direction to stocks.

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Are listed sports contracts, like the Broncos proposition, a kind of swap used to hedge events of financial, commercial or economic consequence?

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And when crude prices spiked higher earlier this year, some shale operators hedged at the higher prices to bring on new production, he told MarketWatch.

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Investors have been more fearful of missing out on stock market gains than hedging against negative news this year.

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Deutsche Bank explores hedges for data center exposure as AI lending booms.

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Related Words

• fudge 
• sidestep 
• waffle