Hedges

Question

Is there such thing as "tall hedges of grass," or can "hedges" only refer to bushes or trees? Can the really tall blades of grass, say, hedging off a walking path be considered hedges?Thanks.

KrisBlueNZ · Accepted Answer

No. Hedges usually have straight sides and tops, and are made from rigid bushes to form a sort of barrier. Grass doesn't have those characteristics.

Snarf · Answer

Oh, I see. I didn't realize that that was the defining characteristic. I think I know what you mean, though. So it doesn't matter that the grass is what is hedging off a path for people to walk or jog across, thus defining for everyone clearly where the path is?

KrisBlueNZ · Answer

No. I don't know what you mean by "hedging off".

A hedge can be used as a boundary marker, but I've never heard of a hedge made of grass.

You can find more information with a dictionary search: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hedge?s=t

Snarf · Answer

In that link you gave me, definition 2 says the following: any barrier or boundary: a hedge of stones.

So, in terms of a boundary (that is, any boundary), if it can be stones, why can't it be tall grass? Heck, why can't it be bricks, for that matter, or cacti, or bars, or wires, etc.?

KrisBlueNZ · Answer

I explained the reason why I don't think grass can be considered to be a hedge in my first post. I don't want to argue about it.

An0nymous · Answer

This is an interesting question.  I've rarely heard the phrase "hedge of stones," but it is okay usage.  You could say a hedge of cactus, because cactus has the kind of rigidity that is associated with a hedge.  But not a hedge of bars, wires, or brick.  This comes down to traditional usage developed over hundreds of years; some things are okay for a hedge, others are not used.  Ordinarily you could not say a hedge of grass, but if the grass were a variety of great rigidity, then it might be okay, but you'd have to specify:  a hedge of marsh grass [a hypothetical, very stiff grass].

An0nymous · Answer

Note that you can say a hedge of barbed wire, as in:

Our scouting party immediately ran into an impenetrable hedge of barbed wire. Keeping the wire hedge to our left, we crawled for a hundred yards until we reached a break in the wire.

But you could not say a hedge of wire, or brick, or bars.

An0nymous · Answer

You could say a hedge of bars, if the bars were of an unusual type, for example, explosive or electrified:

We were careful to keep clear of the hedge of electrified bars that the enemy had erected.

But ordinarily you could not say a hedge of bars, or wire, or brick.

Enoon · Answer

SnarfIn that link you gave me, definition 2 says the following: any barrier or boundary: a hedge of stones.So, in terms of a boundary (that is, any boundary), if it can be stones, why can't it be tall grass? Heck, why can't it be bricks, for that matter, or cacti, or bars, or wires, etc.?

As strange as it may seem, you can't just blindly trust the dictionaries. They have to include somewhat rare or outmoded uses, and they often do not adequately warn us about peculiarities of usage. A hedge is a line of bushes like a wall. Any other use is by extension. You can speak of a hedge of stones only because stones are so very different from bushes. They might serve a similar purpose to a hedge proper, marking a dividing line or presenting a barrier, but they are not really a hedge. They are only a sort of hedge-like thing. A hedge is a line of bushes like a wall. You can't really speak of a hedge of grass, because grass is a plant, like a bush is, and your listener is forced to imagine grass being tall enough and dense enough to do the same job as a bush, which makes an absurd picture. You can, however, have a hedge of box or juniper.

The Shorter Oxford calls the general use "transferred", meaning that when you say "hedge" sans bushes, the meaning refers back to the bushes.

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