Wedge

name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
Noun
  1. 1
    One of the simple machines; a piece of material, such as metal or wood, thick at one edge and tapered to a thin edge at the other for insertion in a narrow crevice, used for splitting, tightening, securing, or levering. countable, uncountable

    "Stick a wedge under the door, will you? It keeps blowing shut."

  2. 2
    The person whose name stands lowest on the list of the classical tripos. UK

    "The last man is called the Wedge, corresponding to the Spoon in Mathematics."

  3. 3
    a block of wood used to prevent the sliding or rolling of a heavy object wordnet
  4. 4
    A piece (of food, metal, wood etc.) having this shape. countable, uncountable

    "Can you cut me a wedge of cheese?"

  5. 5
    something solid that is usable as an inclined plane (shaped like a V) that can be pushed between two things to separate them wordnet
Show 24 more definitions
  1. 6
    Something that creates a division, gap or distance between things. countable, figuratively, uncountable

    "It is one of the ironies of capital cities that each acts as a symbol of its nation, and yet few are even remotely representative of it. London has always set itself apart from the rest of Britain — but political, economic and social trends are conspiring to drive that wedge deeper."

  2. 7
    (golf) an iron with considerable loft and a broad sole wordnet
  3. 8
    A five-sided polyhedron with a rectangular base, two rectangular or trapezoidal sides meeting in an edge, and two triangular ends. countable, uncountable
  4. 9
    a heel that is an extension of the sole of the shoe wordnet
  5. 10
    A voussoir, one of the wedge-shaped blocks forming an arch or vault. countable, uncountable
  6. 11
    a diacritical mark (an inverted circumflex) placed above certain letters (such as the letter c) to indicate pronunciation wordnet
  7. 12
    A flank of cavalry acting to split some portion of an opposing army, charging in an inverted V formation. archaic, countable, uncountable
  8. 13
    a large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States wordnet
  9. 14
    A group of geese, swans, or other birds when they are in flight in a V formation. collective, countable, uncountable
  10. 15
    any shape that is triangular in cross section wordnet
  11. 16
    A type of iron club used for short, high trajectories. countable, uncountable
  12. 17
    One of a pair of wedge-heeled shoes. countable, uncountable

    "She was wearing wedges, and I have a horrible suspicion they were her mum's wedges left over from the last century."

  13. 18
    An ingot. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "Open the Males, yet guard the treaſure ſure. Lay out our golden wedges to the view, That their reflexions may amaze the Perſeans."

  14. 19
    Silver or items made of silver collectively. broadly, obsolete, slang, uncountable
  15. 20
    A quantity of money. British, broadly, colloquial, countable, uncountable

    "He's got some decent wedge."

  16. 21
    A sandwich made on a long, cylindrical roll. US, countable, regional, uncountable

    "I ordered a chicken parm wedge from the deli."

  17. 22
    One of the basic elements that make up cuneiform writing, a single triangular impression made with the corner of a reed stylus. countable, uncountable
  18. 23
    Any symbol shaped like a V in some given orientation.; A háček. US, countable, uncountable

    "The wedge is used in Czech and is illustrated by the Czech name for the diacritic, haček."

  19. 24
    Any symbol shaped like a V in some given orientation.; The IPA character ʌ, which denotes an open-mid back unrounded vowel. countable, uncountable

    "Turned V is referred to as “Wedge” by some phoneticians, but this seems inadvisable to us, because the haček accent (ˇ) is also called that in names like Wedge C for (č)."

  20. 25
    Any symbol shaped like a V in some given orientation.; The symbol ∧, denoting a meet (infimum) operation or logical conjunction. countable, uncountable
  21. 26
    Any symbol shaped like a V in some given orientation.; A hairpin, an elongated horizontal V-shaped sign indicating a crescendo or decrescendo. countable, uncountable
  22. 27
    A barometric ridge; an elongated region of high atmospheric pressure between two low-pressure areas. countable, uncountable
  23. 28
    A wedge tornado. countable, uncountable
  24. 29
    A market trend characterized by a contracting range in prices coupled with an upward trend in prices (a rising wedge) or a downward trend in prices (a falling wedge). countable, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To support or secure using a wedge. transitive

    "I wedged open the window with a screwdriver."

  2. 2
    squeeze like a wedge into a tight space wordnet
  3. 3
    To force into a narrow gap. ambitransitive

    "He had wedged the package between the wall and the back of the sofa."

  4. 4
    put, fix, force, or implant wordnet
  5. 5
    To pack (people or animals) together tightly into a mass. transitive
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    To work wet clay by cutting or kneading for the purpose of homogenizing the mass and expelling air bubbles. transitive
  2. 7
    Of a computer program or system: to get stuck in an unresponsive state. informal, intransitive

    "My Linux kernel wedged after I installed the latest update."

  3. 8
    To cleave with a wedge. transitive
  4. 9
    To force or drive with a wedge. transitive
  5. 10
    To shape into a wedge. transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English wegge (“wedge”), from Old English weċġ (“wedge”), from Proto-West Germanic *wagi, from Proto-Germanic *wagjaz.

Etymology 2

From Middle English wegge (“wedge”), from Old English weċġ (“wedge”), from Proto-West Germanic *wagi, from Proto-Germanic *wagjaz.

Etymology 3

From Wedgewood, surname of the person who occupied this position on the first list of 1828.

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: wedge