Dodge (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Dodged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Dodging.] [Of uncertain origin: cf. dodder, v., daddle, dade, or dog, v. t.]
1.
To start suddenly aside, as to avoid a blow or a missile; to shift place by a sudden start.
Milton.
2.
To evade a duty by low craft; to practice mean shifts; to use tricky devices; to play fast and loose; to quibble.
Some dodging casuist with more craft than sincerity.
Milton.
© Webster 1913.
Dodge, v. t.
1.
To evade by a sudden shift of place; to escape by starting aside; as, to dodge a blow aimed or a ball thrown.
2.
Fig.: To evade by craft; as, to dodge a question; to dodge responsibility.
[Colloq.]
S. G. Goodrich.
3.
To follow by dodging, or suddenly shifting from place to place.
Coleridge.
© Webster 1913.
Dodge, n.
The act of evading by some skillful movement; a sudden starting aside; hence, an artful device to evade, deceive, or cheat; a cunning trick; an artifice.
[Colloq.]
Some, who have a taste for good living, have many harmless arts, by which they improve their banquet, and innocent dodges, if we may be permitted to use an excellent phrase that has become vernacular since the appearance of the last dictionaries.
Thackeray.
© Webster 1913.