Meanings
plural hedgerows
- A row of closely planted bushes or trees forming a hedge.
If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now, it's just a spring clean for the may queen
1971, Led Zeppelin, “Stairway to Heaven”3 more examples
He had a suit of summer mufti, and a broad-brimmed blue beaver hat looped with leaves broken from the hedgerows in the lanes, and a Leander scarf tucked full of flowers: loosestrife, meadowrue, orchis, ragged-robin.
1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 91The original ditches were created by digging trenches, as boundaries and/or irrigation. But to the English, the ditch is the trench. Whereas in Ireland, the ditch is the raised bank of earth and the hedgerow on top. (As for the trench, where I come from that’s a sheugh).
2013 October 31, Frank McNally, “When Anglophone lines get crossed”, in The Irish Times, Dublin: Irish Times Trust, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2021In fact, a railway lined with hedgerows and shrubs would be perfect for reliability and biodiversity. Hawthorn, for example, can take a good cut and grow back strongly, while still providing shelter for creatures and acting as a natural fence line.
2025 October 1, Dr Neil Strong, “Managing linesides”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 15
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old English*heċġrāw
- Middle Englishheggerowe
- Englishhedgerow
From Middle English heggerowe, heggerewe, heggerawe, from Old English *heċġrāw, *heċġrǣw (attested only as Old English heġerǣwe, heġerēwe (“hedgerow”)), equivalent to hedge + row.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan tanca viva, bardissa
- tanca vivaa row of closely planted bushes or trees forming a hedge
- bardissaa row of closely planted bushes or trees forming a hedge
Finnish pensasaita
- pensasaitaa row of closely planted bushes or trees forming a hedge
French haie
- haiea row of closely planted bushes or trees forming a hedge
German Hecke
- Heckea row of closely planted bushes or trees forming a hedge
Scottish Gaelic callaid
- callaida row of closely planted bushes or trees forming a hedge
Spanish seto
- setoa row of closely planted bushes or trees forming a hedge
Swedish häck, buskrad
- häcka row of closely planted bushes or trees forming a hedge
- buskrada row of closely planted bushes or trees forming a hedge
Welsh gwrych
- gwrycha row of closely planted bushes or trees forming a hedge
Cite this entry
hedgerow. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hedgerow
“hedgerow.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hedgerow. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hedgerow,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hedgerow.
Source: hedgerow on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.