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0:00 - How to Say, “Hedge your bets.”
0:16 - Examples of “Hedge your bets.”
1:05 - Meaning of “Hedge your bets.”
1:21 - Origin of “Hedge your bets.”
3:06 - More Examples of “Hedge your bets.”
3:59 - Conclusion

“Hedge your bets.”

When someone says to “hedge your bets”, they mean that you shouldn’t fully commit yourself to one option, choice, possibility.

“You should apply for several universities; you need to hedge your bets,” your parents might tell you, though they know you have your heart set on going to a particular school.

Maybe you’re talking to your financial advisor, “You should put your money into various investments and not just stocks; in other words, hedge your bets.”

“We’re hedging our bets by buying her two different gifts,” your parents tell you about the birthday presents they got for your daughter, who wasn’t that excited about their gift last year.

As you can see, to “hedge your bets,” means to keep your options open, not make a firm decision until later, avoid commitment to one choice.

The idiom, “hedge your bets”, appears as early as 1736, but its entire meaning derives from the word “hedge”, which as a noun is a type of bush or plant that is used as a fence or boundary and as a verb appears as early as the 14th century.

“Hedge” as a verb started out to mean to surround, protect yourself, then by the 1590s evolved to mean dodge, avoid commitment and finally in the 1670s came to mean to reduce your potential for loss by playing both sides.

You’ll often hear people advise you to “hedge your bets” by not committing yourself fully to one option, to one thing…

… but on the other hand, people who are celebrated as “successful” often did not hedge their bets. These people often poured their hearts and minds into one thing and only one thing.

Perhaps you are more likely to find success if you don’t hedge your bets; after all, if you have no way out but success, you will spend more time, put in more effort, not give up.

“Don’t distract yourself by pursuing two careers, you don’t have time to hedge your bets!” your successful friend might be giving you career advice.

Perhaps you and your partner are trying to buy a house in a particular neighbourhood, “Should we hedge our bets by putting in offers on two houses? What if both offers are accepted?!”

“A hedge fund sounds fancy, but it’s simply an investment fund that tries to reduce potential losses, hedge their bets, by putting some money in investments that move in opposite directions,” your business professor might be explaining.

So, the next time you’d like to tell someone not to have their heart set on one thing, to keep their options open, to bet on both sides of the coin, just say, “hedge your bets”!

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References: https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=h...