1861. Cornhill Magazine, iv., 102. ‘A Cumberland Mare’s Nest.’ … Up jumped the worthy magistrate, And seizing ‘Burn,’ Of justices the oracle and badge, he straight Descended to his ‘lion’s den’ (a sobriquet in fudge meant) Where he, ‘a second Daniel,’ had often ‘come to judgment.’
1864. Tangled Talk, p. 108. It is fudge to tell a child to ‘love’ every living creature—a tapeworm, for instance, such as is bottled up in chemists windows.
1865. Morning Star, 1 June. Old as I am and half woor out, I would lay (too bad, Mr. Henley, this) upon my back and hallo fudge!
1882. Daily Telegraph, 5 Oct., p. 2, col. 2. Much that we hear concerning the ways and means of the working classes is sheer fudge.
Verb. (colloquial).—1. To fabricate; to interpolate; to contrive without proper materials.
1776. Foote, The Bankrupt, iii., 2. That last ‘suppose’ is fudged in.
1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xviii. By the time that he did know something about navigation, he discovered that his antagonist knew nothing. Before they arrived at Malta, Jack could fudge a day’s work.
1858. Shirley Brooks, Gordian Knot. Robert Spencer was hiding from his creditors, or fudging medical certificates.
1859. G. A. Sala, in John Bull, 21 May. I had provided myself with a good library of books of Russian travel, and so fudged my Journey Due North.
2. (schoolboys’).—To copy; to crib; to dodge or escape.