hedge vs picket fence

hedge

noun
  • A barrier (often consisting of a line of persons or objects) to protect someone or something from harm. 

  • Contract or arrangement reducing one's exposure to risk (for example the risk of price movements or interest rate movements). 

  • A mound of earth, stone- or turf-faced, often topped with bushes, used as a fence between any two portions of land. 

  • Used attributively, with figurative indication of a person's upbringing, or professional activities, taking place by the side of the road; third-rate. 

  • A thicket of bushes or other shrubbery, especially one planted as a fence between two portions of land, or to separate the parts of a garden. 

  • A non-committal or intentionally ambiguous statement. 

verb
  • To obstruct or surround. 

  • To offset the risk associated with. 

  • To construct or repair a hedge. 

  • To enclose with a hedge or hedges. 

  • To reduce one's exposure to risk. 

  • To avoid verbal commitment. 

picket fence

noun
  • A simple fence made from wooden pickets, connected by horizontal bars. 

  • A series of spaced perpendicular striations that occasionally occur in aurorae. 

How often have the words hedge and picket fence occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )