dodge
verbnounadjectivecommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//dɒd͡ʒ//
- United States//dɑd͡ʒ//
To avoid (something) by moving suddenly out of the way.
verb
- 1
To avoid (something) by moving suddenly out of the way.
He dodged traffic crossing the street.
But that was only the start, because the Fletchers - (obviously) carrying two torpedo launchers - were only launching half-salvos, so one full wave of torpedoes had driven off the cruisers after having savaged the destroyers, aaand then it was a case of, well, here come twenty-five destroyers, here comes^([sic]) two hundred and fifty torpedoes, hello Japanese battleships, dodge this!
- 2
figurativeTo avoid; to sidestep.
The politician dodged the question with a meaningless reply.
The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.
- 3
To elude.
“We must follow after this dreadnought, hard on her tracks. She shall not dodge me though she hide in unfathomed waters, or in the earth's bosom, or in lonely woods, or on crags!”
- 4
archaicTo go, or cause to go, hither and thither.
Or if a footpad asks him for his money, what need he care provided he has an umbrella? He threatens to dodge the ferrule into the ruffian’s eye, and the fellow starts back and says, “Lord, sir! I meant no harm. […]
- 5
To make an area of an image lighter (when processing photographs in a darkroom, this is accomplished by decreasing the exposure of that area to light).
- 6
To follow by dodging, or suddenly shifting from place to place.
"I had a notion he was dodging me all the way I came, for I saw him just behind me, turn which way I would."
A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! / And still it neared and neared: / As if it dodged a water-sprite, / It plunged and tacked and veered.
Miss Griffin screamed after me, the faithless Vizier ran after me, and the boy at the turnpike dodged me into a corner, like a sheep, and cut me off.
- 7
datedTo trick somebody.
Etymology
Likely from dialectal dodge, dod, dodd (“to jog, trudge along, totter", also "to jerk, jig”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from unrecorded Middle English *dodden, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dud- (“to move”), related to Old English dydrian, dyderian (“to delude, deceive”), Middle English dideren (“to tremble, quake, shiver”), English dodder, Norwegian dudra (“to tremble”).
noun
- 1
An act of dodging.
- 2
A trick, evasion or wile. (Now mainly in the expression tax dodge.)
The dodges of women beat all comprehension; and I am sure she wouldn’t let the lad off so easily, if she had not some other scheme on hand.
“Ain't this a rum go? This is a queer sort of dodge for lighting the streets.”
He knows everybody, and is up to all the dodges of editorial management and newspaper cliques.
- 3
slangA line of work.
In the marketing dodge, that is known as rub-off.
Through a series of unconventional circumstances, some my fault, Jackie had found herself working both civil and criminal sides of the real estate dodge, which put her among a rare breed of attorney […]
adjective
- 1
Dodgy.
Forms
- plural
- dodges
- comparative
- more dodge
- superlative
- most dodge
- past tense
- dodged
- past participle
- dodged
- present participle
- dodging
- third person singular
- dodges
dodge · To avoid (something) by moving suddenly out of the way.
Dodge · A surname originating as a patronymic.dodger · Someone who dodges (avoids something by quickly moving).Dodger · A member of the Dodgers US professional baseball team, either…