dodge

Etymology

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”).

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To avoid (something) by moving suddenly out of the way.
   He dodged traffic crossing the street.
   But that was only the start, because the Fletchers - (obviously) carrying two torpedo launchers - were only launching half-salvos, so one full wave of torpedoes had driven off the cruisers after having savaged the destroyers, aaand then it was a case of, well, here come twenty-five destroyers, here comes two hundred and fifty torpedoes, hello Japanese battleships, dodge this! 6 March 2019, Drachinifel, 26:48 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!, archived from the original on 2022-07-20
2. (transitive, figurative) To avoid; to sidestep.
   The politician dodged the question with a meaningless reply.
   The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood. 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion
3. (archaic) To go hither and thither.
4. (photography, videography) To decrease the exposure for certain areas of an image in order to make them darker (compare burn).
5. (transitive) To follow by dodging, or suddenly shifting from place to place.
   I had a notion he was dodging me all the way I came, for I saw him just behind me, turn which way I would. 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, II.iii.7
6. (transitive, intransitive, dated) To trick somebody.

noun

1. An act of dodging.
2. A trick, evasion or wile. (Now mainly in the expression tax dodge.)
   “Ain't this a rum go? This is a queer sort of dodge for lighting the streets.” 1869, Punch, volume 57, page 257
3. (slang) A line of work.
   In the marketing dodge, that is known as rub-off. 1992, Time, volume 140, numbers 1-9, page 74
   Through a series of unconventional circumstances, some my fault, Jackie had found herself working both civil and criminal sides of the real estate dodge, which put her among a rare breed of attorney […] 2009, Chris Knopf, Head Wounds, page 233

adj

1. (Australia) Dodgy.