dodge, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

dodge v.

[SE dodge, to act in a dubious, untrustworthy manner]

1. to follow someone surreptitiously.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: To dog, or dodge, to follow at a distance.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1838		Dickens Oliver Twist (1966) 404: I was a regular cunning sneak when I was at school. What am I to dodge her for?
1848		Wexford Indep. 12 Jan. 3/4: The ould one’s always dodgin’ me [...] And she comes it wid a smack to crack the dhudheen in me jaw.
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 29 Dec. 195: Major and I [...] dodging along at a safe distance behind.

2. (UK Und.) to perform an action.

1846

Swell’s Night Guide 60: Ratherish, my rum’un, ax the flyer else, how I blued the tin what I copped from a swell at Common Garden thother night. I’ll tell you how I dodged it.

3. (Aus.) to leave.

1871		Hamilton Spectator (Vic.) 7 Jan. 1/7: A young gentleman gets into ‘little difficulties,’ [...] He fears he will have to ‘absquatulate,’ ‘ missle,’ ‘ slope,’ ‘ cut’ ‘ dodge,’ ‘make tracks,’ ‘make himself scarce,’ unless the governor ‘shells out’.
2017		S. Bythell Diary of a Bookseller 72: She dodged off for lunch.

In phrases

dodge out (v.)

(US) to run away.

1959

‘Paul Merchant’ ‘Sex Gang’ in Pulling a Train’ (2012) [ebook] He cursed himself for having dodged out. He knew he should have stayed close and dug the scene with the chicks in the car.

dodge pompey (v.) [naut. jargon dodge pompey, to skulk around, to avoid work by the use of any semi-legitimate excuse]

(Aus.) to steal grass, rather than to grow and harvest one’s own crop.

1930

Billis & Kenyon Pastures New iii 46: Browne detailed the laws passed, not to encourage the overlander, but rather to counteract his habit of stealing grass — ‘dodging Pompey’, as it was known [OED].

dodge the rattler (v.)

see mace the rattler under mace v.

dodge up (v.)

(Aus. und.) to fake, to tamper with.

1882

Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 2: Cook - To dodge up a picture, etc.