hedge (redirected from hedging bets)

A hedge between keeps friendship green.

Prov. Your friendship will flourish if you and your friend respect each other's privacy. Lynne and I are the best of friends, but we often like to spend time apart. A hedge between keeps friendship green.

See also: friendship, green, keep

hedge someone or something in

to enclose someone or something in a hedge. (See also hedge someone in.) Their overgrown yard has almost hedged us in. Their bushes hedged in our yard.

hedge someone in

Fig. to restrict someone. (See also hedge someone or something in.) Our decision hedged in the children so they could not have any flexibility. She hedged herself in by her own behavior.

hedge something against something

Fig. to protect investments against a decline in value by making counterbalancing bets or investments. The investor hedged his portfolio against a drop in stock prices by buying some bonds. I have to hedge my bets against losing.

See also: against

hedge against something

to do something to lessen the risk of something happening; to bet against something bad happening. I want to hedge against something going wrong in the stock market, so I have bonds in my portfolio, too. We will hedge against any risk we can detect.

See also: against

hedge one's bets

Fig. to reduce one's loss on a bet or on an investment by counterbalancing the loss in some way. Bob bet Ann that the plane would be late. He usually hedges his bets. This time he called the airline and asked about the plane before he made the bet. John bought some stock and then bet Mary that the stock would go down in value in one year. He has hedged his bets perfectly. If the stock goes up, he sells it, pays off Mary, and still makes a profit. If it goes down, he reduces his loss by winning the bet he made with Mary.

See also: bet

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hedge your bets

to try to avoid giving an opinion or choosing only one thing, so that whatever happens in the future you will not have problems or seem stupid (sometimes + on ) Journalists are hedging their bets on the likely outcome of the election. I decided to hedge my bets by buying shares in several different companies.

See also: bet

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hedge your bets

to protect yourself against making the wrong choice Forecasters were hedging their bets about the storm, saying that it could bring lots of snow, or it could head away from us.

See also: bet