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Dodge

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dodge¹

  • /dɒd͡ʒ/ UK
  • /dɑd͡ʒ/ US

Rhymes with -ɒdʒ

Where it comes from

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”).

verb dodges · dodging · dodged

  1. ambitransitive To avoid (something) by moving suddenly out of the way. He dodged traffic crossing the street.
  2. figuratively, transitive To avoid; to sidestep. The politician dodged the question with a meaningless reply.
  3. transitive 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. ambitransitive, archaic To 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. transitive 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."
  7. ambitransitive, dated To trick somebody.

noun dodges

  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.
  3. slang A line of work. In the marketing dodge, that is known as rub-off.

adjective more dodge · most dodge

  1. Australia, UK, colloquial Dodgy.

Dodge²

  • /dɒd͡ʒ/ UK
  • /dɑd͡ʒ/ US

Rhymes with -ɒdʒ

Where it comes from

From a Middle English diminutive form of Roger.

proper noun Dodges

  1. US, countable A surname originating as a patronymic.
  2. countable, uncountable A village in Nebraska.
  3. countable, uncountable A city and village in North Dakota.
  4. countable, uncountable A census-designated place in Oklahoma.
  5. countable, uncountable A town in Wisconsin.
  6. countable, uncountable A brand of motor vehicle.

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