Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense dredges, present participle dredging, past tense, past participle dredged
verb
When people dredge a harbour, river, or other area of water, they remove mud and unwanted material from the bottom with a special machine in order to make it deeper or to look for something.
Police have spent weeks dredging the lake but have not found his body. [VERB noun]
Phrasal verbs:
See dredge up
dredge in British English1
(drɛdʒ)
noun
1. Also called: dredger
a machine, in the form of a bucket ladder, grab, or suction device, used to remove material from a riverbed, channel, etc
2. another name for dredger1 (sense 1)
verb
3.
to remove (material) from a riverbed, channel, etc, by means of a dredge
4. (transitive)
to search for (a submerged object) with or as if with a dredge; drag
Word origin
C16: perhaps ultimately from Old English dragan to draw; see drag
dredge in British English2
(drɛdʒ)
verb
to sprinkle or coat (food) with flour, sugar, etc
Word origin
C16: from Old French dragie, perhaps from Latin tragēmata spices, from Greek
dredge in American English1
(drɛdʒ)
noun
1.
a device consisting of a net attached to a frame, dragged along the bottom of a river, bay, etc. to gather shellfish, marine plant specimens, etc.
2.
an apparatus for scooping or sucking up mud, sand, rocks, etc., as in deepening or clearing channels, harbors, etc.
3.
a barge or other boat equipped with a dredge
verb transitiveWord forms: dredged or ˈdredging
4.
to search for or gather (up) with or as with a dredge
5.
to enlarge or clean out (a river channel, harbor, etc.) with a dredge
verb intransitive
6.
to use a dredge
7.
to search as with a dredge
Derived forms
dredger (ˈdredger)
noun
Word origin
prob. < MDu dregge, akin to UNRESOLVED CROSS REF
dredge in American English2
(drɛdʒ)
verb transitiveWord forms: dredged or ˈdredging
1.
to coat (food) with flour or the like, as by sprinkling
2.
to sprinkle (flour, etc.)
Derived forms
dredger (ˈdredger)
noun
Word origin
< ME dragge, sweetmeat < OFr dragie < ML dragium, earlier dragetum < L tragemata < Gr tragēmata, pl. of tragēma, dried fruit, dessert < trōgein, to gnaw < IE *trog- < base *ter-, to rub: see throw
Examples of 'dredge' in a sentence
dredge
We need to get the rivers dredged.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Forget expensive river dredging and flood defences.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Dredge with flour and shake off any excess.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The plan to ship the coal downstream was scuppered by difficulties in dredging the river and environmental concerns from the government.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
They haven't dredged the rivers in years.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Why else did we go further than the European habitats directive with our laws on dredging in harbours?
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
I have not seen any dredging in the area for many years.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
We should also remember that only durable objects have survived, and most of them in burials and dredged from rivers and other wet places.
Francis Pryor BRITAIN BC: Life In Britain and Ireland before the Romans (2003)
Rivers were dredged regularly.
The Sun (2015)
At school, the only game I played was when they dredged the bottom of the barrel.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
A new lock has been built to tame tidal parts of the network and the channels dredged to allow big barges to come in from the Thames.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
In other languages
dredge
British English: dredge VERB
When people dredge a harbour, river, or other area of water, they remove mud and unwanted material from the bottom with a special machine in order to make it deeper or to look for something.
Police have spent weeks dredging the lake but have not found his body.