wedge1
/wɛdʒ
/noun
1A piece of wood, metal, etc. having one thick end and tapering to a thin edge, that is driven between two objects or parts of an object to secure or separate them: the door was secured by a wedge...
- An anchorage consists of a cast-iron bearing plate and special wedges to secure the strand inside the anchor housing.
- Once the wedge is secured, slide the fender into the exposed slot until it clicks.
- Once home I lost no time in trying out the metal wedge and managed to split quite a pile of logs before I'd had enough.
Synonyms
tapered block, chock, door stop
1.1An object or piece of something shaped like a wedge: a wedge of cheese...
- In France, it's bad form to cut the point off a wedge of cheese.
- Finally, there is usually a small piece of fruit - a wedge of apple, a small piece of watermelon, or a few grapes.
- Eat breakfast - even if it's only a wedge of cheese on a cracker with your morning coffee - to avoid daytime fatigue.
Synonyms
triangle, tapered piece, segment, slice, section;
chunk, lump, slab, hunk, block
British informal wodge
1.2A formation of people or animals in the shape of a wedge: the wedge of horsemen crashed forward...
- The B17s flew in a wedge formation that should have given them massive fire power against any attackers.
- The Combined Fleet flew in a wedge formation, with the battleships at the point and the cruisers on the flanks.
- We are in wedge formation, one to each side of me and one watching my back.
2A golf club with a low, angled face for maximum loft.There's enough loft on a wedge when the shaft sits perpendicular to the ground....
- But then you look at the pros on TV, and they always seem to pull out a pitching wedge or sand iron and chip it from just off the green.
- Decide if you need a wedge with a loft between your sand wedge and pitching wedge.
2.1A shot made with a wedge: Davies hit a wedge to within a yard of the hole...
- Tiger Woods hits a brilliant wedge to within two feet of the pin at the 15th.
- On the day I paid him some attention, Freddie hit a wedge to the final green on the old course.
- All we have today are young, strong guys who launch the ball off the tee, then hit wedges to almost every green.
3A shoe with a fairly high heel forming a solid block with the sole.The look that dominated the '70s has women trading in their high heels for wedges that are casual and often more comfortable....
- Show your toes with strappy flats, heels or wedges.
- Weekends at the beach call for designer wedges.
3.1A heel on a wedge shoe.He wears a black tracksuit zipped right up, shiny black shoes with a wedge to give him height and small red sunglasses....
- I wore shoes with wedges about half that size and my feet were killing me!
- Also we have stiletto pumps and boots with wedges and clear - transparent - acrylic shoes.
4 [mass noun] British informal Money or earnings: he invested his wedge in stocks and shares...
- The man with access to the obligatory vast deposit of unclaimed wedge is in this case one ‘Dr Green’.
- Plenty of guys always have a bit of wedge in their pocket but I've always been either hopelessly broke or stupidly rich.
- It is particularly painful to write that sentence, because I had a very large wedge on the horse that came second.
verb
1 [with object] Fix in position using a wedge: [with object and complement]: the door was wedged open...
- Fire officers also raised concerns that the stairs enclosure could be compromised due to doors being wedged open.
- Staff say their health is suffering because classrooms in the new school are too small and ventilation is so poor they have little choice but to break safety rules by wedging fire doors open.
- The doors will be wedged open to allow in freezing winter air.
2 [with object and adverbial] Force into a narrow space: she wedged her holdall between two bags...
- ‘I could not see my mother at first but she had wedged herself under the table so she was all right,’ she said.
- One larger sized doctor finally wedged himself between them and pushed them apart.
- She wedged herself as far as she could into the cavity.
Synonyms
squeeze, cram, jam, crush, pack, thrust, ram, force, push, stow
informal stuff, shove, bung
Phrases
drive a wedge between
the thin end of the wedge
Derivatives
wedge-like
- It was enough for at least two people; all the chips were of a good size, without being wedge-like.
- Later this morning I'll be heading into downtown Vancouver, to the wedge-like Hamilton Street radio studio building, to record a brief interview on Internet topics or something like that.
- The walls of the wedge-like form are clad entirely in a delicately translucent glass skin, so that the building is perceived as a series of elements encased within a shimmering membrane.
Origin
Old English wecg (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch wig.
Rhymes
wedge2
/wɛdʒ/verb [with object]
Prepare (pottery clay) for use by cutting, kneading, and throwing down to homogenize it and remove air pockets.The photo shows this as if you are facing the person wedging the clay....
- The purpose of wedging the clay is to work all the air bubbles out and evenly distribute the moisture throughout the piece of clay.
Origin
Late 17th century: of unknown origin.