hedge

Plural: hedges

Noun

• a fence formed by a row of closely planted shrubs or bushes
• any technique designed to reduce or eliminate financial risk; for example, taking two positions that will offset each other if prices change
• an intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement
• A thicket of bushes or other shrubbery, especially one planted as a fence between two portions of land, or to separate the parts of a garden.
• A barrier (often consisting of a line of persons or objects) to protect someone or something from harm.
• A mound of earth, stone- or turf-faced, often topped with bushes, used as a fence between any two portions of land.
• A non-committal or intentionally ambiguous statement.
• Contract or arrangement reducing one's exposure to risk (for example the risk of price movements or interest rate movements).
• Used attributively, with figurative indication of a person's upbringing, or professional activities, taking place by the side of the road; third-rate.

Verb

Verb Forms: hedged, hedging, hedges

• To avoid making a direct commitment; to surround with a barrier.
• avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)
• hinder or restrict with or as if with a hedge
  • "The animals were hedged in"
• enclose or bound in with or as it with a hedge or hedges
  • "hedge the property"
• minimize loss or risk
  • "diversify your financial portfolio to hedge price risks"
  • "hedge your bets"
• To enclose with a hedge or hedges.
• To obstruct or surround.
• To offset the risk associated with.
• To avoid verbal commitment.
• To construct or repair a hedge.
• To reduce one's exposure to risk.

Examples

• A hedge is an investment position intended to offset potential losses/gains that may be incurred by a companion investment. In simple language, a hedge is used to reduce any substantial losses/gains suffered by an individual or an organization.
• He carefully hedged his statements with weasel words.
• He then traced them from place to place, till at last he found two of them drinking together, with a third person, at a hedge-tavern near Aldersgate.
• He tried to hedge his bets by playing a short word, conserving his good tiles.
• He trims the hedge once a week.
• The asset class acts as a hedge.
• to hedge a field or garden

Synonyms

circumvent, dodge, duck, elude, evade, fudge, hedge in, hedgerow, hedging, parry, put off, sidestep, skirt, shuffle

Anagrams of hedge