King James Bible Dictionary

A fence
Job 1:10; Isaiah 5:5; Jeremiah 49:3; Lamentations 3:7; Ezekiel 13:5; Ezekiel 22:30; Hosea 2:6; Micah 7:4; Mark 12:1

Of thorns
Proverbs 15:19

People dwelt in
Luke 14:23
Fence

The Hebrew words thus rendered denote simply that which surrounds or encloses, whether it be a stone wall, geder , (Proverbs 24:31; Ezekiel 42:10) or a fence of other materials. The stone walls which surround the sheepfolds of modern Palestine are frequently crowned with sharp thorns.

HEDGE, noun hej. [Eng. haw] Properly, a thicket of thorn-bushes or other shrubs or small trees; but appropriately, such a thicket planted round a field to fence it, or in rows, to separate the parts of a garden.

HEDGE, prefixed to another word, or in composition, denotes something mean, as a hedge-priest, a hedge-press, a hedge-vicar, that is, born in or belonging to the hedges or woods, low, outlandish. [Not used in American.]

HEDGE, verb transitive hej. To inclose with a hedge; to fence with a thicket of shrubs or small trees; to separate by a hedge; as, to hedge a field or garden.

1. To obstruct with a hedge or to obstruct in any manner.

I will hedge up thy way with thorns. Hosea 2.

2. To surround for defense; to fortify.

England hedged in with the main.

3. To inclose for preventing escape.

That is a law to hedge in the cuckow.

Dryden, Swift and Shakespeare have written hedge for edge, to edge in, but improperly.

HEDGE, verb intransitive hej. To hide, as in a hedge; to hide; to skulk.

HEDGE-BILL

HEDGE-BORN, adjective Of low birth, as if born in the woods; outlandish; obscure.

HEDGE-BOTE, noun Wood for repairing hedges.

HEDGE-CREEPER, noun One who skulks under hedges for bad purposes.

HEDGE-FU'MITORY, noun A plant.

HEDGEHOG, noun A quadruped, or genus of quadrupeds, the Erinaceus. The common hedgehog has round ears, and crested nostrils; his body is about nine inches long, and the upper part is covered with prickles or spines, and the under part with hair. When attacked, this animal erects his prickles and rolls himself into a round form, which presents the points of the prickles on all sides to an assailant.

1. A term of reproach.

2. A plant of the genus Medicago, or snail-trefoil. The seeds are shaped like a snail, downy, and armed with a few short spines.

3. The globe-fish, orbis echinatus.

This fish belongs to the genus Diodon. It is covered with long spines, and has the power of inflating its body, whence the name globe-fish.

The Sea-hedgehog, is the Echinus, a genus of Zoophytes, generally of a spheroidal or oval form, and covered with movable spines.

HEDGEHOG-THISTLE, noun A plant, the Cactus.

HEDGE-HYSSOP, noun A plant, the Gratiola.

HEDGE-MUSTARD, noun A plant, the Erysimum.

HEDGE-NETTLE, noun A plant, the Galeopsis. The shrubby hedge-nettle is of the genus Prasium.

HEDGE-NOTE, adjective A term of contempt for low writing.

HEDGEPIG, noun A young hedgehog.

HEDG'ER, noun One who makes hedges.

HEDGEROW, noun A row or series of shrubs or trees planted for inclosure, or separation of fields.

HEDGE-SPARROW, noun A bird of the genus Motacilla, frequenting hedges; distinguished from the sparrow that builds in thatch.

HEDGE-WRITER, noun A Grub-street writer or low author.