1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii., 1. No hectoring, good Captain.
1849–61. Macaulay, Hist. of Eng., ch. xvi. To play the Hector at cockpits or hazard tables.
To wear Hector’s cloak, verb. phr. (old).—To receive the right reward for treachery. [When Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, was routed in 1569, he hid himself in the house of Hector Armstrong, of Harlaw, who betrayed him for hire, and prospered [[294]]so ill thereafter that he died a beggar by the roadside.]
Hectoring, subs. and adj. (old: now recognised).—Bullying; blustering.
1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii., 1. Thou art soe debauched, drunken, lewd, hectoring, gaming companion. Ibid., ii., 1. Every idle, young, hectoring, roaring companion, with a pair of turned red breeches, and a broad back, thinks to carry away any widow of the best degree.
1893. St. James’s Gazette, xxvii, 4074, p. 3. Mr. Sexton with much unnecessary outlay of hectoring bluster, repudiates guilty knowledge.
Hedge, subs. (racing).—See verbal sense.
1856. Hughes, Tom Brown, p. 200. Now listen, you young fool, you don’t know anything about it; the horse is no use to you. He won’t win, but I want him as a hedge.
1864. Eton Schooldays, ch. vii. He took the precaution to take those odds five or six times by way of a hedge, in case anything should happen to Chorley.
Verb (racing).—1. To secure oneself against, or minimise the loss on a bet by reversing on advantageous terms; to get out (q.v.). [Thus, if a man backs A to win him £100 at 5 to 1, he will if possible hedge by laying (say) 3 to 1 to the amount of (say) £60 against him. He will then stand thus: If A wins he gains on the first bet £100, and loses on the second £60, leaving a net gain of £40; if A loses he loses on the first bet £20, and wins on the second £20, thus clearing himself.] See Standing on Velvet and Go.