Hedge (1 syl.)

To hedge, in betting, is to defend oneself from loss by crossbets. As a hedge is a defence, so crossbetting is hedging. (E. Hunt: The Town, ix.)

“He [Godolphin] began to think … that he had betted too deep … and that it was time to hedge.”—Macaulay: England, vol. iv. chap. xviii.