dodge

Meaning

Verb

1. (ambitransitive) To avoid (something) by moving suddenly out of the way.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To avoid; to sidestep.
3. (transitive) To elude.
4. (ambitransitive, archaic) To go, or cause to go, hither and thither.
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.
7. (ambitransitive, dated) To trick somebody.

Noun

1. An act of dodging.
2. A trick, evasion or wile. (Now mainly in the expression tax dodge.)
3. (slang) A line of work.

Adj

Dodgy.

Synonyms

evade

avoid

elude

shirk

trick

duck

🦆

sidestep

circumvent

parry

avert

escape

shun

steer clear of

contrivance

hide

hedge

stratagem

shift

tergiversate

ruse

evasion

prevaricate

conceal

jink

fudge

elusion

dodging

shrink back

chivvy

device

keep away from

twist

game

veil

keep clear of

pull away from

skirt

shuffle

scheme

quibble

artifice

shroud

move

jugglery

equivocate

slip

abscond

put off

get away

sidestop

Translations

ausweichen

esquiver

evitare

ontwijken

éviter

umgehen

esquivar

evitar

schivare

presumir

uit de weg gaan

entweichen

evadir

evitar

esquivar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dɒd͡ʒ/

Etymology

Cognate with Norwegian: dudra

Inherited from Middle English: *dodden

Cognate with Old English: dydrian

Cognate with Middle English: dideren

Cognate with English: dodder

In summary

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”).