Moving quickly to avoid something coming toward you, or cleverly avoiding a responsibility or question.
Origin uncertain but possibly related to 'dock' (to cut short) or a 16th-century origin in East Anglian dialect. The word entered written English around the 1570s-1580s with the physical evasion meaning, then expanded to avoiding problems figuratively.
During World War II, 'dodging the draft' became a major social issue, and the word gained political weight — today psychologists study 'dodge' as a specific avoidance tactic, showing how our everyday words reveal important patterns in how humans handle conflict and danger.
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