/ fʌdʒ; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ U ] a type of soft brown sweet / candy made from sugar, butter and milk
2.
a fudge [ sing. ] ( especially BrE ) a way of dealing with a situation that does not really solve the problems but is intended to appear to do so :
This solution is a fudge rushed in to win cheers at the party conference.
■ verb
fudge (on) sth to avoid giving clear and accurate information, or a clear answer :
[ vn ]
I asked how long he was staying, but he fudged the answer.
Politicians are often very clever at fudging the issue .
[also v ]
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WORD ORIGIN
early 17th cent.: probably an alteration of obsolete fadge to fit . Early usage was as a verb in the sense turn out as expected , also merge together : this probably gave rise to its use in confectionery. In the late 17th cent. the verb came to mean fit together in a clumsy or underhand manner , which included facts or figures being cobbled together in a superficially convincing way: this led to the exclamation fudge! .