dodge
/dɒdʒ
/verb [with object]
1Avoid (someone or something) by a sudden quick movement: marchers had to dodge missiles thrown by loyalists...
- When the news was wafted to his father's factory, all his colleagues dodged him as if they were avoiding a deadly plague.
- This time, he wasn't quick enough in dodging any attacks.
- I pushed myself up and dodged a sudden flurry to my right, just in time to avoid someone else's arms.
Synonyms
dart, bolt, duck, dive, swerve, body-swerve, sidestep, veer, lunge, jump, leap, spring
elude, evade, avoid, stay away from, steer clear of, escape, run away from, break away from, lose, leave behind, shake, shake off, fend off, keep at arm's length, give someone a wide berth, keep one's distance from;
deceive, trick, cheat;
North American end-run
informal ditch, give someone the slip
1.1 [no object, with adverbial of direction] Move quickly to one side or out of the way: Adam dodged between the cars...
- With no warning at all, she charged forward, swiping her sword widely, but Davin quickly dodged to the side.
- The people who heard him dodged to the side quickly.
- As he dodged to the side, he had to quickly move again as a tentacle came shooting towards him.
1.2Evade (a debt or obligation) in a cunning or dishonest way: he’d caught her dodging fares on the underground...
- Only if no attempt is made to collect my fare will I dodge payment.
- No respite is given to the women constantly dodging detection and caught up at every turn by gender-specific restrictions.
- Are you dodging the social life question?
Synonyms
avoid, evade, shun, get out of, slide out of, back out of, steer clear of, sidestep, circumvent, skirt round, bypass, give something a miss, find a way out of
informal duck, wriggle out of, cop out of
British informal funk, skive, skive off
North American informal cut
Australian/New Zealand informal duck-shove
archaic decline, bilk
2 (often as noun dodging) Photography Expose (one area of a print) less than the rest during processing or enlarging.Similarly, a print area might require dodging during the initial exposure to keep it from reversing when solarized....
- So if you are using a fluorescent tube source, dodging and burning in the enlarged negative stage may be preferable.
- The sky was a dull gray color - vastly different than the solid black he created by dodging and burning the final print in the darkroom.
3 [no object] Bell-ringing (Of a bell in change-ringing) move one place contrary to the normal sequence, and then back again in the following round.
noun
1A sudden quick movement to avoid someone or something.A guard shot at me but with a quick dodge from my new agility I managed to avoid at it....
- The boost in graphical detail has also improved their movements, making their dodges, grapples and infiltrations seem much more realistic.
- She rushed in, preparing to make a quick dodge into the kitchen to grab another drink and then get back out, but froze on the spot two steps into the house.
Synonyms
dart, bolt, duck, dive, swerve, jump, leap, spring
1.1 informal A cunning trick or dishonest act, in particular one intended to avoid something unpleasant: the grant system’s widespread use as a tax dodge...
- How dare this President collect taxes from ordinary Americans after touting a company that created 881 offshore dodges to avoid taxes.
- The effect has been to encourage the well-off to take out plans for children as a tax dodge.
- The bill repeals restrictions on ‘top-heavy’ pension plans set up as tax dodges by employers.
Synonyms
ruse, ploy, scheme, tactic, stratagem, subterfuge, trick, hoax, wile, cheat, deception, blind, pretext, manoeuvre, device, machination, contrivance, artifice, expedient;
swindle, fraud, loophole
informal scam, con, con trick, set-up, wangle
British informal wheeze
North American informal bunco, grift
Australian informal lurk, rort
British informal, dated flanker
archaic shift
2 Bell-ringing The dodging of a bell in change-ringing.
Origin
Mid 16th century (in the senses 'dither' and 'haggle'): of unknown origin.