Hedera 
to most temperate and subtropical old-world regions of 
the northern hemisphere, from the Canary Islands to Ja- 
pan. The other species, H. Australiana, the Queensland 
ivy, differs chiefly in having pinnate leaves. The West In- 
dian trees that have been placed in this genus by some 
authors are now referred to Sciapophyllum ; while the so- 
called Hedera of the Hawaiian Islands, called C/ieiroden- 
dron by Hillebrand, belongs more properly to the genus 
Panax. Besides the value of a species of this genus as an 
ornamental vine, it yields hederic acid, which has medi- 
cinal properties, and the berries are emetic. A decoction 
of the leaves dyes hair black. The genus is found in a 
fossil state from the Middle Cretaceous to the Quaternary 
of Europe, the arctic regions, and the United States, more 
than 20 fossil species having been described. H. Helix is 
common in the Quaternary deposits of Italy and France. 
Hederaceae (hod-e-ra'se-e), . pi. [NL., fern, 
pi. of L. hederaceus, < hedera, ivy: see hedera- 
ceos.] A term first used by Lhmams in 1751 
to include the genera Hedera, ntis, etc. : made 
by Bartling in 1830, and by Seeman in 1864, 
equivalent to Araliaeete. 
hederaceous (hed-e-ra'shius), a. [< L. hedera- 
ceus, of ivy, ivy-green, < hedera, ivy: see Hede- 
ra.} 1. Pertaining to, resembling, composed 
of, or producing ivy. 2. Belonging to the ivy 
family that is, to the suborder or series Hede- 
rew. 
hederal (hed'e-ral), a, [< L. hedera, ivy, + 
-al.~\ Of or pertaining to ivy. Also Jiederic. 
liederatet (hed'e-rat), v. t. [< L. hedera, ivy, 
+ -ate 2 .] To adorn or crown with ivy, as a vic- 
tor in the Olympian games. 
He appeareth there neither laureated nor hederated 
poet. Fuller, Worthies, Yorkshire. 
Hedereas (he-de're-e), n. pi. [NL., < Hedera + 
-e<e.] That subdivision of the natural order 
of plants Araliacew to which the genus Hedera, 
the ivy, belongs : called by Bentham and Hook- 
er (1862) a series, and embracing, besides He- 
dera, six other genera. The group is distinguished 
from the rest of the order by having the petals valvate 
and of the same number as the stamens, and the albumen 
of the seed wrinkled. 
hederic (he-der'ik), a. [< L. hedera, ivy, + -ic.] 
Same as lifderal. 
hederiferous (hed-e-rif'e-rus), a. [< L. hedera, 
ivy; + ferre = E. bear*.] Ivy-bearing; pro- 
ducing ivy. 
hederine (hed'e-rin), . [< L. hedera, ivy, + 
-!>it 2 .] An alkaloid found in the seeds of the 
common ivy. It is intensely bitter, and ap- 
pears to be closely allied to quinine in febrifu- 
gal qualities. U. S. Dispensatory, 1883. 
hederose (hed'e-ros), a. [< L. hederosiis, full 
of ivy, < hedera, ivy.] Full of ivy; pertaining 
to ivy. 
hederwardt, adv. A Middle English form of 
hitherward. 
hedge (hej), n. [< ME. hedge, hegge, < AS. *hecg, 
not found except in the once-occurring dat. 
hegge, written for either "hecge or hege, but the 
probable source of the mod. form hedge (of. E. 
edge, < AS. ecu ; E. wedge, (. AS. wecg, etc.), the 
common AS. form being the nearly related 
hege, > ME. heye, haye, E. hay 2 , q. v. ; AS.'hecg 
= MD. hegglie, D. liegge, heg = MLG. hegge = 
OHG. hegga, hecka, MHG. G. hecke, a hedge ; = 
Icel. heggr = Norw. hegg = Dan. hag = Sw. 
hagg, a kind of tree, the bird-cherry (see heck- 
berry, hedgeberry, hegberry, hagberry), appar. so 
called (like the hawthorn, q. v.) because used 
in hedges. Cf. Sw. hack, Dan. hcek, a hedge, 
prob. after G. The AS. *hecg, E. hedge, and AS. 
hege, E. hay 2 , are both from the more primitive 
form, AS. haga, E. haw: see haw 1 , hay2.~] 1. A 
barrier or fence formed by bushes or small trees 
growing close together, such as thorn-bushes 
or beeches, and sometimes by woven twigs or 
wattling; also, a closely planted row of any 
kind of shrubbery, as evergreens, whether in- 
tended as a fence or not. See hedge-plant. The 
hedge is the prevalent kind of fence in England, but is 
comparatively rare in the United States. Hedges, espe- 
cially roadside hedges, are often used by vagabonds as 
places of shelter or resort ; hence hedge is often used in 
composition to denote something mean, low, rustic : as, a 
Aedpe-priest ; a Aedye-school. 
The [thee] was saide in fltches floure 
The seede to keepe of brere and houndes thorne. 
ffor hegges made of it shall not be torne. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 81. 
But Sir, we have taken with her such Beggars, such 
Rogues, such Vagabonds, and such Hed^e-birds (since you 
call 'em so) as you never knew, or heard of, though now 
the Countries swarm with 'em under every Hedge, as if an 
innumerable army of 'em were lately disbanded without 
Pay. Hedge-birds said you? Hedge Lady-birds, Hedge 
Cavaliers, Hedge Souldier, Hedge Lawyer, Hedge Fidlers, 
Hedge Poet, Hedge Players, and a Hedge Priest among 'em. 
Such we have taken for the Principals. 
Brome, Jovial Crew, v. 
The cool shade of this sweet honeysuckle hedge. 
1. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 203. 
2708 
I was forced to go to a little hedge place for my dinner. 
Swift, Journal to Stella, jtxix. 
2. A structure made to lead fish into channels 
across which nets are spread. 
They Lthe salmon] will force themselves through flood- 
gates, or over weirs, or hedges, or stops in the water. 
/. Waltim, Complete Angler, p. 123. 
Dead hedge. See dead. To breast up a hedge. See 
breast. 
hedge (hej), v. ; pret. and pp. hedged, ppr. Itcdg- 
ing. [< ME. hedgen, heggen (= OD. heggehn), 
hedge, inclose; < hedge, n.] I. trans. 1. To 
inclose or fence with a hedge; separate by a 
hedge : as, to hedge a field or garden. 
There was a certain householder which planted a vine- 
yard and hedged it round about. Mat xxi. 33. 
2. To obstruct with a hedge or any barrier; 
stop or restrain by any kind of obstruction. 
I will hedge up thy way with thorns. Hos. ii. 6. 
Nay, this shall not hedge us out : we'll hear you sing, 
certainly. Skat., 1. and C., iii. 1. 
3. To surround with something as a barrier or 
a border ; compass about ; hem in. 
The fflrst cours : brawne, with the borys bed, lying in 
a f elde, hegge about with a scriptur sayng on this wyse : 
" Welcombe you bretheren godely in this hall ! " 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 375. 
England hedg'd in with the main. Shak., K . John, ii. 1. 
We hedge ourselves round with conventional usages. 
Charming, Perfect Life, p. 78. 
[In the following passages hedge is peculiarly used, appa- 
rently by confusion with edge, v., in the sense of 'force or 
thrust' (intr. 'force or thrust one's self), as into a place 
already full : 
When I was hasty, thou delay dst me longer ; 
I pr'ythee, let me hedge one moment more 
Into thy promise ; for thy life preserved. Dryden. 
When you are sent on an errand, be sure to hedge in 
some business of your own. 
Swift, Advice to Servants (Directions to the Footman).] 
4. In sporting, to protect by betting on both 
sides. See to hedge a bet, below. 
Now do I suspect 
I shall lose the race. ... Ill /..-/.;, in 
My money presently. Shirley, Hyde Park, iv. 3. 
To hedge a bet, to bet on both sides that is, after 
having bet on one side, to bet also on the other side, thus 
guarding one's self against great loss, whatever the result 
may be. 
He [Montano] first reduced betting into an art, and made 
White's the grand market for wagers. He is at length 
such an adept in this art that, whatever turn things take, 
he can never lose. This he has effected by what he has 
taught the world to call hedging a bet. 
If. and Q., 6th ser., XII. 829. 
II. intrans. 1 . To hide as in a hedge ; shift ; 
skulk. 
I, I, I myself sometimes, leaving the fear of heaven on 
the left hand, and hiding mine honour in my necessity, am 
fain to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch. 
Shak., M. W. of W., ii. 2. 
2. In betting, to protect one's self from loss by 
cross-bets. See to hedge a bet, above. 
Egremont . . . consulted his book ; he meditated anx- 
iously. Should he hedge 1 Disraeli, Sibyl, p. 7. 
Hence 3. To provide a means of retreat or 
escape; avoid committing one's self irrevoca- 
bly to anything. 
Prophesy as much as you like, but always hedge. . . . 
Say what you will, but don't be too peremptory and dog- 
matic. 0. W. Holmes, Old VoL of Life, p. 12. 
4f. To make or mend hedges. 
'S. Ashmole, 208. (Halliwell.) 
hedge-accentor (hej'ak-sen"tor), n. Same as 
hedge-sparrow, 1. See Accentor, 2 (a). 
hedge-bedstraw (hej'bed'stra), . A plant, 
GaMum MoHugo, growing in hedges. See bed- 
straw and Galium. 
hedge-bells (hej'belz), w. 1. The hedge-bind- 
weed, Convolvulus septum. See cut under Con- 
volvulus. Also called bell-bind. 2. The com- 
mon bindweed, C. arvensis. [Rare.] 
hedgeberry (hej'ber /f 'i), .; pi. hcdgeberries 
(-iz). Same as hagberry, the bird-cherry : but in 
this form it seems more generally to mean the 
larger sweet bird-cherry, Prunus avium, which 
is merely a variety of the garden-cherry, P. 
Cerasus. 
hedge-bill, hedging-bill (hej'bil, -ing-bil), n. 
A cutting-hook used in dressing hedges ; a bill- 
hook. 
Comes Master Dametas, with a hedging-bill in his hand. 
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i. 
hedge-binding (hej'bin"ding), . Something 
used to bind together the bushes composing a 
hedge. 
He came and basted me with a hedge-binding. 
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, ii. 7. 
hedge-bindweed (hej'bind"wed), n. A peren- 
nialherbaceous vine, Convolvulus septum, abun- 
hedgehog-grass 
dant in both Europe and America, growing 
along hedges and fences, over which it climbs. 
It was formerly separated from the true bindweed, C. ar- 
vensis, and placed in the genus Calystegia, on account of 
the large leafy bracts that surround the calyx ; but this is 
no longer regarded as a generic distinction. See Cunvot- 
vulus. 
hedge-bird (hej'berd), H. A bird that seeks 
food and shelter in hedges. See hayttiit-/.: 
hedge-born (hej'bdrn), a. Born under a hedge ; 
hence, of low birth; rustic; obscure; mean. 
A h>'dye-born swain 
That doth presume to boast of gentle blood. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iv. 1. 
hedge-bote (hej'bot), n. [< hfdge + bate, ME. 
form of boofl, reparation, etc. : same as hay- 
bote.'] In Eng. law, an allowance of wood to a 
tenant for repairing hedges. 
Haye-bote or hedge-bote is wood for repairing of hays, 
hedges, or fences. lilackstone, Com., III. 111. 
hedge-carpenter (hej 'kar"pen-ter), n. Ahedger. 
[Humorous.] 
Pervading poverty and forlornness of the region in the 
best of seasons serve to repel the poets and philosophers 
who love to feast their eyes and rest their souls with 
pleasant things ; and the shepherds, the hedge-carpentfrs t 
the parish-clerks, and the ditchers, usually have it all to 
themselves. 
Harper's Mag., LXXVII., Literary Notes for Aug. 
hedge-chafer (hej'cha / 'fer), n. A cockchafer. 
hedge-chanter (hej'chan"ter), . Same as 
hedge-sparrow, 1. 
hedge-chicken (hej'chik"en), n. The white- 
throat, Sylvia cinerea. C. Swainson. 
hedge-creepert. n. A wily, crafty vagabond 
and thief. Hollyband, Diet., 1593. (Halliwell.) 
hedge-fumitoryt (hej'fu'mi-to-ri), n. Prob- 
ably the fumitory, Fumaria officinalis. 
hedge-garlic (hej'gar"lik), . A cruciferous 
plant, Sisymbrium Alliaria (Alliaria officinalis), 
having an odor resembling that of garlic. It has 
large, cordate, radical leaves, grows to the height of 2 feet, 
and bears an abundance of erect linear pods. It is com- 
mon throughout Europe, and has been Introduced into the 
United States near Washington, where it is rapidly spread- 
ing. Also called garlic-mustard and sauce-alone. 
hedgehog (hej'hog), . [< ME. heggehogge; < 
hedge + Mff*.] 1. In zob'l., an insectivorous 
animal of the family Erinaceidte and genus 
Erinaceus, of which there are several species. 
The common European hedgehog, Erinaceus europceut, 
is about 9 inches long ; the body is covered above with 
spines, and the animal can roll itself into a ball bristling 
in every direction. This it accomplishes by means of a 
very highly developed and specialized pauniculus carno- 
sus, or fleshy layer beneath the skin, which when the body 
is flexed acts as a sphincter, like the string which puckers 
the mouth of a bag. See cut under Erinaceus. 
And whan he wenyth [thinketh] it be an hare, full oft 
it is an hegge hogge. 
Juliana Berners, Treatyse of Fysshynge, fol. 1. 
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen. 
Shak., M. N. D., ii. 3 (song). 
2. One of several other animals characterized 
by numerous spines, (a) A Madagascan insectivo- 
rous animal of the family Centetidte and any of the genera 
Centetei, Ericulut, and Hemicenletes. Otherwise known 
as tenrec. <b) An Australian monotrematous mammal of 
the family Echidnidte ; a spiny ant-eater, as Zaglossui 
bruijni. See ant-eater (a) (5), and cut under Echidnidoe. 
(c) A prickly fish of the genus Diodon, as D. hystrix, the 
porcupine-fish, more fully called sea-hedgehog. See cut 
under Diodon. (d) A sea-urchin. 
3. In bot., a plant with echinate fruits. The 
name is used especially (often in the plunil ) for Medicago 
Echinus (M. intertexla\ a native of Italy and Greece, the 
seeds of which are armed with short spines. It has also 
been given to Erinaeea pungent (Anthyllis erinacea), a 
leguminous plant growing in Spain ; to Ranunculus ar- 
vensis, a northern species ; to Echinaria capitata, a grass 
of southern Europe ; and to Hydnum erinaeeus(&\m called 
hedgehog-hydnum), a fungus with tough elastic pileus, 
and very long straight hymeneal spines, growing on the 
trunks of oak- and beech-trees. Also hedgehog-plant. 
4. A kind of dredging-machine consisting of 
a series of spades fixed to the periphery of a 
cylinder, used for loosening mud, silt, etc., so 
that it may be carried off by the current. 
5. In Scotch mining, a broken strand or wire 
of a rope torn out while in motion and drawn 
up into a bundle. N. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 322. 
Hedgehog cone-flower. See cone-flower. 
hedgehog-cactus (hej'hog-kak'tus), n. A cac- 
tus of the genus Eehinocactus, of which about 
200 species are known and a large number cul- 
tivated. They are all natives of Texas, Mexico, 
and South America. See cut under Echino- 
cactus. 
hedgehog-fruit (hej 'hog-f rot), n. The fruit of an 
Australian tree, Echinocarpus Australis, which 
belongs to the natural order Tiliaeea', and at- 
tains the height of from 80 to 100 feet. The 
name is also used for the tree. 
hedgehog-grass (hej'hog-gras), n. An Amer- 
ican grass, Cenchrus tribuloides, the spikelets of 
which are collected into burs. It grows in sandy 
