Part 775

Hec"tor (?), n. [From the Trojan warrior Hector, the son of Priam.] A bully; a blustering, turbulent, insolent, fellow; one who vexes or provokes.

Hec"tor, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hectored (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Hectoring.] To treat with insolence; to threaten; to bully; hence, to torment by words; to tease; to taunt; to worry or irritate by bullying. Dryden.

Hec"tor, v. i. To play the bully; to bluster; to be turbulent or insolent. Swift.

Hec"to*rism (?), n. The disposition or the practice of a hector; a bullying. [R.]

Hec"tor*ly, a. Resembling a hector; blustering; insolent; taunting. "Hectorly, ruffianlike swaggering or huffing." Barrow.

Hec"to*stere (?), n. [F. hectostËre; Gr. &?; hundred + F. stËre.] A measure of solidity, containing one hundred cubic meters, and equivalent to 3531.66 English or 3531.05 United States cubic feet.

Hed"dle (?), n.; pl. Heddles (#). [Cf. Heald.] (Weaving) One of the sets of parallel doubled threads which, with mounting, compose the harness employed to guide the warp threads to the lathe or batten in a loom.

Hed"dle, v. t. To draw (the warp thread) through the heddle-eyes, in weaving.

Hed"dle-eye` (?), n. (Weaving) The eye or loop formed in each heddle to receive a warp thread.

Hed"dling (?), vb. n. The act of drawing the warp threads through the heddle-eyes of a weaver's harness; the harness itself. Knight.

Hed`er*a"ceous (?), a. [L. hederaceus, fr. hedera ivy.] Of, pertaining to, or resembling, ivy.

Hed"er*al (?), a. Of or pertaining to ivy.

He*der"ic (?), a. Pertaining to, or derived from, the ivy (Hedera); as, hederic acid, an acid of the acetylene series.

Hed`er*if"er*ous (?), a. [L. hedera ivy + -ferous.] Producing ivy; ivy- bearing.

Hed"er*ose` (?), a. [L. hederosus, fr. hedera ivy.] Pertaining to, or of, ivy; full of ivy.

Hedge (?), n. [OE. hegge, AS. hecg; akin to haga an inclosure, E. haw, AS. hege hedge, E. haybote, D. hegge, OHG. hegga, G. hecke. √12. See Haw a hedge.] A thicket of bushes, usually thorn bushes; especially, such a thicket planted as a fence between any two portions of land; and also any sort of shrubbery, as evergreens, planted in a line or as a fence; particularly, such a thicket planted round a field to fence it, or in rows to separate the parts of a garden.

The roughest berry on the rudest hedge.

Shak.

Through the verdant maze Of sweetbrier hedges I pursue my walk.

Thomson.

Hedge, when used adjectively or in composition, often means rustic, outlandish, illiterate, poor, or mean; as, hedge priest; hedgeborn, etc.

Hedge bells, Hedge bindweed (Bot.), a climbing plant related to the morning-glory (Convolvulus sepium). -- Hedge bill, a long-handled billhook. -- Hedge garlic (Bot.), a plant of the genus Alliaria. See Garlic mustard, under Garlic. -- Hedge hyssop (Bot.), a bitter herb of the genus Gratiola, the leaves of which are emetic and purgative. - - Hedge marriage, a secret or clandestine marriage, especially one performed by a hedge priest. [Eng.] -- Hedge mustard (Bot.), a plant of the genus Sisymbrium, belonging to the Mustard family. -- Hedge nettle (Bot.), an herb, or under shrub, of the genus Stachys, belonging to the Mint family. It has a nettlelike appearance, though quite harmless. -- Hedge note. (a) The note of a hedge bird. (b) Low, contemptible writing. [Obs.] Dryden. -- Hedge priest, a poor, illiterate priest. Shak. -- Hedge school, an open-air school in the shelter of a hedge, in Ireland; a school for rustics. -- Hedge sparrow (Zoˆl.), a European warbler (Accentor modularis) which frequents hedges. Its color is reddish brown, and ash; the wing coverts are tipped with white. Called also chanter, hedge warbler, dunnock, and doney. -- Hedge writer, an insignificant writer, or a writer of low, scurrilous stuff. [Obs.] Swift. -- To breast up a hedge. See under Breast. -- To hang in the hedge, to be at a standstill. "While the business of money hangs in the hedge." Pepys.

Hedge (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hedged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Hedging.] 1. To inclose or separate with a hedge; to fence with a thickly set line or thicket of shrubs or small trees; as, to hedge a field or garden.

2. To obstruct, as a road, with a barrier; to hinder from progress or success; -- sometimes with up and out.

I will hedge up thy way with thorns.

Hos. ii. 6.

Lollius Urbius . . . drew another wall . . . to hedge out incursions from the north.

Milton.