The meaning of the noun "dodge"

[TheParser]

1. William Safire was a New York Times columnist who wrote a weekly column on English usage.

2. Many of his columns were collected and published as books.

3. He frequently used the word "dodge" in a way that I have never seen.

4. I have been unable to find an explanation on the Web.

5. I have copied five examples from those books and hope that some member can give me a definition.


a. "Learned students of the economic dodge -- once called 'political arithmetic' -- have reviewed …."

b. "The trick in the allusion dodge is to get to the original."

c. "In the past-time dodge, usage is all."

d. "... a deeper question that all of us in the language dodge have been pondering …."

e. "... I have heard my former colleague in the speech dodge refer to himself as …."


Thank you

 

[SoothingDave]

a cunning trick or dishonest act, in particular one intended to avoid something unpleasant.

I believe he is referring (perhaps in a self-deprecating way) to these activities as being dishonest ways of making a living.