1.To shelter one's self from danger, risk, duty, responsibility, etc., as if by hiding in or behind a hedge; to skulk; to slink; to shirk obligations. "I myself sometimes, leaving the fear of God on the left hand and hiding mine honor in my necessity, am fain to shuffle, to hedge and to lurch."
2.(Betting) To reduce the risk of a wager by making a bet against the side or chance one has bet on.
3.To use reservations and qualifications in one's speech so as to avoid committing one's self to anything definite. "The Heroic Stanzas read much more like an elaborate attempt to hedge between the parties than... to gain favor from the Roundheads."
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