hedge (1), hedgin, heggin

t. & i. [HEDGE, S.] IMG:content-1083.png:[blocks in formation] "I will hedge up thy way with thorns."- Hosea ii. 6. sin, as; expect, Xenophon, exist. ph = f. II. Figuratively : hedge 1. To encircle, as for defense. "England, hedged in with the main." Shakesp.: King John, ii. *2. To surround; to invest. "There's such divinity doth hedge a king, That treason can but peep to what it would." Shakesp.: Hamlet, iv. 5. 3. To shut up within an inclosure. "That is a law to hedge in the cuckow, and serves for no purpose."- Locke . *4. To confine; to restrain; to limit. "I'll not endure it; you forget yourself To hedge me in." -Shakesp .: Julius Cæsar , iv. 8. B. Intransitive: *1. To hide or skulk, as in a hedge; to shift; to shuffle. "I myself sometimes, hiding mine honor in my nece ity, am fain to shuffle, to hedge , and to lurch." --Shakesp .: Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2. 2. In betting, to protect or insure one's self against lo by hedging one's bets [1]. To hedge a bet : To make cro -bets; that is, after having backed one side, to turn around and back the other, so that whatever the result may be, the lo cannot be heavy. *hědge (2), v . t . [Probably for edge (q. v.).] To edge in; to push or force in. "Be sure to hedge in some busine of your own." Swift : Directions for Servants.