fudg´er

fudge¹ «fuhj», noun.

a soft candy made of sugar, milk, chocolate, and butter.

╂[American English; origin unknown]

fudge² «fuhj», verb, fudged, fudg|ing, noun.

–v.t.

to put together in a clumsy, makeshift, or dishonest way; fake: »

Not for a moment had [he] considered fudging his figures to keep the crowd-pleasing champion in the race (Time).

–v.i.

1. to be dishonest; cheat; fake.

2. to evade the fulfillment of an obligation; welsh: »

Pentagon policy makers vow there's no thought of fudging on their intentions (Wall Street Journal).

–n.

1. a made-up story; lie.

2. a patch or small insert by means of which late news or print of a different color can be added to a printing plate or type page for a newspaper without remaking the whole.

3. the material added.

4. a machine or part of a press for printing such material.

╂[apparently variant of fadge in sense of “patch out, to make fit”]

–fudg´er, noun.

fudge³ «fuhj», noun, interjection.

–n.

nonsense; stuff; bosh: »

There comes Poe with his raven like Barnaby Rudge, Three fifths of him genius, and two fifths sheer fudge (James Russell Lowell).

–interj.

nonsense! bosh! »

Mr. Burchell, who…at the conclusion of every sentence would cry out Fudge! (Oliver Goldsmith).

╂[origin uncertain]