<B>heck, </B>noun, interjection.<DL COMPACT><DD> hell (used mainly as a mild curse). <BR> <I>Ex. Our philosophy was "make a quick buck now and to heck with next year" (Sports Illustrated).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="heckle">
<B>heckle, </B>verb, <B>-led,</B> <B>-ling,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to interrupt and annoy (as a speaker or performer) by asking bothersome questions, jeering, or making loud remarks. <BR> <I>Ex. [The] M.P. for the Exchange division of Liverpool ... after being rejected, was heckled when she addressed a May Day demonstration (London Times).</I> (SYN) badger. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=hackle</B> (comb flax). Also, <B>hatchel.</B> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>=hackle </B>(comb for dressing flax). noun <B>heckler.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="hecogenin">
<B>hecogenin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a sugar compound obtained from certain plants such as the sisal, used as a source of cortisone. </DL>
<A NAME="hect">
<B>hect-,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (combining form.) the form of <B>hecto-</B> before vowels, as in <I>hectare.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="hectare">
<B>hectare, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a unit of square measure in the metric system, equal to 100 ares, 10,000 square meters, or 2.471 acres. (Abbr:) ha. </DL>
<A NAME="hectic">
<B>hectic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>very exciting; characterized by great excitement, activity, or confusion. <BR> <I>Ex. hectic pleasures, a hectic romance, a man with a hectic past. The children had a hectic time getting to school the morning after the big snowstorm.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>much excited. <BR> <I>Ex. Hectic citizens crowd through ecclesiastical doors to a club called Gold Street (Esquire).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>flushed. <BR> <I>Ex. leaves ... pale and hectic red (Shelley).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>feverish. <DD><B> 5. </B>showing the signs of a wasted condition of the body, as caused by tuberculosis or the like; consumptive. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>any flush or fever. <BR> <I>Ex. A hectic of a moment pass'd across his cheek (Laurence Sterne).</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>a flush. <DD><B> b. </B>a fever. <DD><B> c. </B>a person having a hectic fever; a consumptive person. adv. <B>hectically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="hecticfever">
<B>hectic fever,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a fever often accompanying tuberculosis or other wasting diseases, characterized by flushed cheeks and hot, dry skin. </DL>
<A NAME="hecto">
<B>hecto-,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (combining form.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a hundred. <BR> <I>Ex. Hectogram = a hundred grams.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>many. <BR> <I>Ex. Hectograph = a machine that makes many copies.</I> <DD> Also, <B>hect-</B> before vowels. </DL>
<A NAME="hectocotylus">
<B>hectocotylus, </B>noun, pl. <B>-li.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an arm of the male of certain cephalopods modified to transfer sperm to the mantle cavity of the female. </DL>
<A NAME="hectogram">
<B>hectogram, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a unit of weight in the metric system, equal to 100 grams or 3.527 ounces. (Abbr:) hg. </DL>
<B>hectograph, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a machine for making many copies of a page of writing or a drawing. The original writing is transferred to a surface coated with gelatin, and the copies are made from this. <DD><B> 2. </B>the process of making copies with such a machine. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to make copies of with a hectograph. Also, <B>hektograph.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="hectographic">
<B>hectographic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having to do with the hectograph. <DD><B> 2. </B>produced by a hectograph. </DL>
<A NAME="hectoliter">
<B>hectoliter, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a unit of capacity in the metric system, equal to 100 liters, 2.8378 bushels, U.S. dry measure, or 26.4 gallons, U.S. liquid measure. (Abbr:) hl. Also, <B>hektoliter.</B> </DL>
<B>hectometer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a unit of linear measure in the metric system, equal to 100 meters, 0.1 kilometer, or 328.08 feet. (Abbr:) hm. </DL>
<B>Hector, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Greek Legend.) the bravest of the Trojan warriors, the son of Priam and Hecuba and husband of Andromache. Hector killed Patroclus and was killed by Achilles. </DL>
<A NAME="hector">
<B>hector, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a bragging, bullying fellow; swashbuckler. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to bluster at; bully. <BR> <I>Ex. He hectors his children, bewilders his friends (New York Times).</I> (SYN) intimidate, threaten. <DD><B> 2. </B>to tease. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to act in a blustering, domineering way. <DD><B> 2. </B>to tease. <BR> <I>Ex. She does now and then hector a little.</I> adv. <B>hectoringly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="hectostere">
<B>hectostere, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a unit of cubic measure in the metric system, equal to 100 steres, 100 cubic meters, or 130.8 cubic yards. </DL>
<A NAME="hecuba">
<B>Hecuba, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Greek Legend.) the wife of Priam and the mother of Hector, Paris, and Cassandra. </DL>
<B>heddle, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> one of the two sets of small cords or wires in the harness of a loom to guide and separate the warp threads. </DL>
<A NAME="heder">
<B>heder, </B>noun, pl. <B>hadarim</B> or <B>heders.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an old type of Hebrew school which emphasized prayer and the study of the Bible and Talmud in Hebrew and Yiddish. Also, <B>cheder.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="hedge">
<B>hedge, </B>noun, verb, <B>hedged,</B> <B>hedging,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a thick row of bushes or small trees, planted as a fence or boundary. <BR> <I>Ex. The rabbit ran under the hedge into the neighbor's yard.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) any barrier, limit, or boundary. <BR> <I>Ex. The Administration officials put two hedges on these rosy forecasts (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) a means of protection or defense. <BR> <I>Ex. The optimist buys because he figures business is expanding; the pessimist buys as a hedge against inflation (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>the act of hedging. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to put a hedge around. <BR> <I>Ex. to hedge a garden.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to enclose or separate with a hedge or fence. <BR> <I>Ex. There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about (Matthew 21:33).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) to obstruct with a hedge or any barrier. <BR> <I>Ex. I will hedge up thy way with thorns (Hosea 2:6).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to reduce one's possible losses on (a bet, risk, or speculation) by betting or speculating on both sides. <DD><B> 5. </B>to avoid answering (a question) directly; evade (something). <BR> <I>Ex. The President hedged the question of tax relief.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to avoid giving a direct answer or taking a definite stand; evade questions or problems. <BR> <I>Ex. Prophesy as much as you like, but always hedge (Oliver Wendell Holmes).</I> (SYN) shift, dodge, trim, shuffle. <DD><B> 2. </B>to bet on both sides in order to reduce one's possible losses. <DD><B> 3. </B>to turn aside or swerve. <BR> <I>Ex. If you ... hedge aside from the direct forthright ... they all rush by and leave you hindmost (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to hide as if in a hedge; skulk. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of or for a hedge. <BR> <I>Ex. hedge plants, hedge clippers.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) as though born, brought up, sheltered by, or working under hedges, or by the roadside (a contemptuous use). <BR> <I>Ex. a hedge lawyer, a hedge parson.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) done, produced, or worked under a hedge, or secretly. <BR> <I>Ex. a hedge marriage.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>of such kind as is met with by the wayside; of inferior or common quality. <BR> <I>Ex. I was forced to go to a little hedge place for my dinner (Jonathan Swift).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>of, for, or having to do with a speculative hedge. <BR> <I>Ex. A let-up in hedge sales helped the cotton futures market (Wall Street Journal).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>hedge in,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to hem in; surround on all sides. </I> <I>Ex. The town was hedged in by mountains and a dense forest.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative.) to keep from getting away or moving freely. <BR> <I>Ex. to be hedged in by difficulties.</I> adj. <B>hedgeless.</B> </DL>
<B>hedge bindweed,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a perennial vine growing in the temperate regions of Europe, America, and Asia along roads, on beaches, and in thickets and fields; wild morning-glory. </DL>
<A NAME="hedgefund">
<B>hedge fund,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) an investment fund set up as a limited partnership for investing private capital speculatively. <BR> <I>Ex. The hedge funds, so-called, have been operating on borrowed money in order to concentrate the capital gains of their customers (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="hedgehog">
<B>hedgehog, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>any one of a group of small insect-eating mammals of Europe, Asia, and Africa, with spines on the back. Hedgehogs are active at night. When attacked, a hedgehog rolls up into a bristling ball. <DD><B> 2. </B>the porcupine of America. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Military.) <DD><B> a. </B>an X-shaped portable obstacle, usually laced with barbed wire. <DD><B> b. </B>an area defended by pillboxes, mines, and lanes for machine-gun fire. <DD><I>adj. </I> strongly defended; difficult to break through. </DL>
<A NAME="hedgehop">
<B>hedge-hop</B> or <B>hedgehop, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb, <B>-hopped,</B> <B>-hopping.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to fly (an airplane) very low over the ground, especially in short, repeated flights, as for dusting crops or bombing. <BR> <I>Ex. He gunned the left engine and hedgehopped over land for half a mile (New York Times).</I> noun <B>hedge-hopper,</B> <B>hedgehopper.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="hedgehyssop">
<B>hedge hyssop,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any one of a group of low herbs of the figwort family, especially a European species formerly used widely as a medicine. <DD><B> 2. </B>any one of various similar British plants, such as a species of skullcap. </DL>
