hedgy

English

Etymology

From hedge ‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛdʒi

Adjective

hedgy (comparative hedgier or more hedgy, superlative hedgiest or most hedgy)

1. Pertaining to or like a hedge.

   A long hedgy path led through the woodland to the house.

   • 1868, James Mason Hoppin, Old England: Its Scenery, Art and People:

     The Isle of Wight is a pocket edition of England,- an epitome, a compact gem, of all England's beauties of rolling hills, quiet valleys, emerald meadows, hedgy lanes, broken cliffs, and shaggy ocean bays.

   • 1998, Ciaran Carson, The Star Factory, page 122:

     Little picket gates and hedgy archways provide interesting access points to the gardens and their crazy paving winding among small lawns, rose arrays and vegetable patches.

2. Indecisive, hesitant, noncommittal, unwilling to take a side.

   He remained hedgy until he knew exactly what was being asked of him.

   • 2004, John Dalton, Heaven Lake: a novel, page 216:

     Naturally they were curious, the businessmen and cadre and assorted visitors, who offered up cigarettes and tea before making their first hedgy attempts at conversation.

   • 2010, Fionna Farr, The Discourse of Teaching Practice Feedback, page 107:

     Indicators of hesitation such as em, and other lexis associated with the realm of vague, fuzzy or hedgy language can be found in the examples, sort, mean, think, terms, bit, maybe, just, little, and some.

Derived terms

• hedgy-boar