Hedge-bird, subs. (old).—See quot.
1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. Out, you rogue, you hedge-bird, you pimp, you panier-man's bastard, you.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Hedge-bird, a Scoundrel or sorry Fellow
1725. New Cant. Dict.
Hedge-bottom Attorney (or
Solicitor), subs. phr. (legal).—A
person who, being not
admitted or being uncertificated
(or, it may be, admitted and
certificated both, but struck off
the rolls for malpractice), sets up
in the name of a qualified man,
and thus evades the penalties
attaching to those who act as
solicitors without being duly
qualified. [All the business is done
in another name, but the hedge-bottom
is the real principal, the
partner being only a dummy.]—Sir
Patrick Colquhoun in
Slang, Jargon and Cant.
Hedge-creeper, subs. (old).—A
hedge-thief; a skulker under
hedges; a pitiful rascal.
1594. Nashe, Unfortunate Traveller p. 32 (Chiswick Press, 1892). Call him a sneaking eavesdropper, a scraping hedge-creeper, and a piperley pickthanke.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hedge-creeper; a pitiful rascal.
1725. New Cant. Dict. s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Hedge-docked, adj. (venery).—Deflowered
in the open.
Hedge-marriage (or wedding),
subs. (old).—An irregular marriage
performed by a hedge-priest
(q.v.); a marriage over
the broom.
Hedge-note, subs. (old).—Low
writing. [As Dryden: 'They left
these hedge-notes for another
sort of poem.']
HEDGE-POPPING, subs. (sporting).—Shooting
small birds about hedges.
Whence Hedge-popper = a
trumpery shooter; and Hedge-game
= small birds, as sparrows
and tits.
Hedge-priest (or parson), subs. (old: now recognised).—A sham cleric; a blackguard or vagabond parson; a couple beggar. [As Johnson notes, the use of Hedge in a detrimental sense is common. As Hedge-begot; Hedge-born; Hedge-brat; Hedge-found; Hedge-docked (q.v.); Hedge-tavern (= a low ale-*house); Hedge-square (q.v.); Hedge-reared; Hedge-mustard; Hedge-writer (= a Grub-street author); Hedge-building, etc. Shakspeare uses the phrase 'Hedge-born' as the very opposite of 'gentle blooded' (1 Henry VI., iv., 1).] Specifically, Hedge-priests = (in Ireland) a cleric admitted to orders directly from a Hedge-school (q.v.) without having studied theology. [Before May-*nooth, men were admitted to ordination ere they left for the continental colleges, so that they might receive the stipend for saying mass.]
1588. Marprelate's Epistle, p. 30 (Ed. Arber). Is it any maruaile that we haue so many swine dumbe dogs nonresidents with their iourneimen the hedge-priests . . . in our ministry.
1594. Shakspeare, Love's Labour Lost, v., 2. The pedant, the braggart, the hedge-priest, the fool, and the boy.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes. Arlotto, the name of a merie priest, a lack-latine, or hedge-priest.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hedge Priest. A sorry Hackney, Underling, Illiterate, Vagabond, see Patrico.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. s.v.
