fudge

¹

[ fuhj ]

noun

1. a soft candy made of sugar, butter, milk, chocolate, and sometimes nuts.

fudge

²

[ fuhj ]

verb (used without object)

, fudged, fudg·ing.

1. to cheat (often followed by on ):

   How many of you have fudged on your taxes?

2. to fail to fulfill an obligation:

   For a variety of reasons, they had fudged on their promise.

3. to avoid coming to grips with a subject, issue, etc.:

   He fudged on the matter of whether he would retire at the end of his three-year term.

4. to tamper with or misrepresent something, as to produce a desired result or allow leeway for error:

   Some of the men and women fudged on their ages.

verb (used with object)

, fudged, fudg·ing.

1. to avoid coming to grips with (a subject, issue, etc.); evade; dodge:

   He fudged a few of the direct questions.

2. to tamper with or misrepresent:

   The suggestion is that they simply fudged the figures to make sales look more impressive.

noun

, Printing.

1. a small stereotype or a few lines of specially prepared type, bearing a newspaper bulletin, for replacing a detachable part of a page plate without the need to replate the entire page.
2. the bulletin thus printed, often in color.
3. a machine or attachment for printing such a bulletin.

fudge

³

[ fuhj ]

noun

1. nonsense or foolishness (often used as an interjection).

verb (used without object)

, fudged, fudg·ing.

1. to talk nonsense.

fudge

¹

/ fʌdʒ /

noun

1. a soft variously flavoured sweet made from sugar, butter, cream, etc

fudge

²

/ fʌdʒ /

noun

1. foolishness; nonsense

interjection

1. a mild exclamation of annoyance

verb

1. intr to talk foolishly or emptily

fudge

³

/ fʌdʒ /

noun

1. a small section of type matter in a box in a newspaper allowing late news to be included without the whole page having to be remade
2. the box in which such type matter is placed
3. the late news so inserted
4. a machine attached to a newspaper press for printing this
5. an unsatisfactory compromise reached to evade a difficult problem or controversial issue

verb

1. tr to make or adjust in a false or clumsy way
2. tr to misrepresent; falsify
3. to evade (a problem, issue, etc); dodge; avoid

Word History and Origins

Origin of fudge¹

An Americanism dating to 1895–1900; of uncertain origin; the word was early in its history associated with female college campuses, where fudge-making was popular; however, attempts to explain it as a derivative of fudge ²( def ) (preparing the candy supposedly being an excuse to “fudge” on dormitory rules) are dubious and probably after-the-fact speculation

Origin of fudge²

First recorded in 1665–75; origin uncertain; in earliest sense, “to contrive clumsily,” perhaps expressive variant of fadge “to fit, agree, do” (akin to Middle English feien, Old English fēgan “to fit together, join, bind”); fudge ¹ and fudge ³ are developments of this word or are independent coinages

Origin of fudge³

First recorded in 1690–1700; of uncertain origin; fudge ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of fudge¹

C19: of unknown origin

Origin of fudge²

C18: of uncertain origin

Origin of fudge³

C19: see fadge

Example Sentences

But observers saw it as a bit of a fudge by the Church and by Mr Welby.

From BBC

Smoke and mirrors, a fiscal fudge and a masterclass in creative public accounting?

From BBC

A fudge maker said her business had been "devastated" after its Instagram account, used to promote its products, was suspended without notice.

From BBC

Claire Brennan, who owns Want That Fudge in Scunthorpe, said the account had been running for 10 years and had more than 93,000 followers.

From BBC

"It's just a continuation of Fannie Lou Hamer. It's a continuation of Barbara Jordan, Marcia Fudge — all of these women who leaped down on faith to say, 'Black women, you need to hear our voices. America, you need to hear our voices. We have something to say, and we're going to say it.'"

From Salon

Related Words

• evade
• exaggerate
• falsify
• overstate