Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HEDGE, n. [hej; Sax. hege, heag, hæg, hegge; G. heck; D. heg, haag; Dan. hekke or hek; Sw. hägn, hedge, protection; Fr. haie; W. cae. Hence Eng. haw, and Hague in Holland. Ar. حَاجٌ haugan, a species of thorny plant.]

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 America.]