Library / English Dictionary

WEDGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A block of wood used to prevent the sliding or rolling of a heavy object

Synonyms:

chock; wedge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("wedge" is a kind of...):

block (a solid piece of something (usually having flat rectangular sides))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wedge"):

sprag (a chock or bar wedged under a wheel or between the spokes to prevent a vehicle from rolling down an incline)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something solid that is usable as an inclined plane (shaped like a V) that can be pushed between two things to separate them

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("wedge" is a kind of...):

inclined plane (a simple machine for elevating objects; consists of plane surface that makes an acute angle with the horizontal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wedge"):

ax head; axe head (the cutting head of an ax)

colter; coulter (a sharp steel wedge that precedes the plow and cuts vertically through the soil)

moldboard; mouldboard (wedge formed by the curved part of a steel plow blade that turns the furrow)

ploughshare; plowshare; share (a sharp steel wedge that cuts loose the top layer of soil)

coign; coigne; quoin (expandable metal or wooden wedge used by printers to lock up a form within a chase)

shim (a thin wedge of material (wood or metal or stone) for driving into crevices)

Derivation:

wedge (squeeze like a wedge into a tight space)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(golf) an iron with considerable loft and a broad sole

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("wedge" is a kind of...):

iron (a golf club that has a relatively narrow metal head)

Domain category:

golf; golf game (a game played on a large open course with 9 or 18 holes; the object is use as few strokes as possible in playing all the holes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wedge"):

pitching wedge (a wedge used to loft the golf ball over obstacles)

sand wedge (a wedge used to get out of sand traps)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A heel that is an extension of the sole of the shoe

Synonyms:

wedge; wedge heel

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("wedge" is a kind of...):

heel (the bottom of a shoe or boot; the back part of a shoe or boot that touches the ground and provides elevation)

Holonyms ("wedge" is a part of...):

wedgie (a shoe with a wedge heel)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A diacritical mark (an inverted circumflex) placed above certain letters (such as the letter c) to indicate pronunciation

Synonyms:

hacek; wedge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("wedge" is a kind of...):

diacritic; diacritical mark (a mark added to a letter to indicate a special pronunciation)

Sense 6

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

bomber; Cuban sandwich; grinder; hero; hero sandwich; hoagie; hoagy; Italian sandwich; poor boy; sub; submarine; submarine sandwich; torpedo; wedge; zep

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("wedge" is a kind of...):

sandwich (two (or more) slices of bread with a filling between them)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Any shape that is triangular in cross section

Synonyms:

cuneus; wedge; wedge shape

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("wedge" is a kind of...):

triangle; trigon; trilateral (a three-sided polygon)

Derivation:

wedge (squeeze like a wedge into a tight space)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Squeeze like a wedge into a tight space

Example:

I squeezed myself into the corner

Synonyms:

force; squeeze; wedge

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "wedge" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wedge"):

impact (press or wedge together; pack together)

compact; compress; pack together (make more compact by or as if by pressing)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

wedge (something solid that is usable as an inclined plane (shaped like a V) that can be pushed between two things to separate them)

wedge (any shape that is triangular in cross section)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Put, fix, force, or implant

Example:

stick your thumb in the crack

Synonyms:

deposit; lodge; stick; wedge

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "wedge" is one way to...):

fasten; fix; secure (cause to be firmly attached)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wedge"):

redeposit (deposit anew)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

They wedge the books into the box

Credits

 Context examples: 

Grafting is done by cutting a plant off near the root, shaping its stalk into a wedge and fitting this into a matching groove on the severed stem of another plant.

(Grafting helps pepper plants deal with drought, SciDev.Net)

A crescent-shaped wedge of cartilaginous material that serves as a cushion in the knee, between the tuberosities of the femur and the tibia.

(Meniscus, NCI Thesaurus)

There was a double stream upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found ourselves in the office.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had just driven the wedge safely in, and everything was going as I wished; but the cursed wedge was too smooth and suddenly sprang out, and the tree closed so quickly that I could not pull out my beautiful white beard; so now it is tight and I cannot get away, and the silly, sleek, milk-faced things laugh!

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

To my astonishment it was none other than my strange old book collector, his sharp, wizened face peering out from a frame of white hair, and his precious volumes, a dozen of them at least, wedged under his right arm.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was something to see him wedge the foot of the crutch against a bulkhead, and propped against it, yielding to every movement of the ship, get on with his cooking like someone safe ashore.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It might not be a perfect system; nothing was perfect; but what he objected to, was, the insertion of the wedge.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

They were followed by a banner-bearer who held high the scarlet wedge upon a silver field which proclaimed the presence of the famous warrior.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The fog seemed to break away as though split by a wedge, and the bow of a steamboat emerged, trailing fog-wreaths on either side like seaweed on the snout of Leviathan.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Her majesty had taken a marrow-bone upon her plate, and, after knocking out the marrow, placed the bone again in the dish erect, as it stood before; the dwarf, watching his opportunity, while Glumdalclitch was gone to the side-board, mounted the stool that she stood on to take care of me at meals, took me up in both hands, and squeezing my legs together, wedged them into the marrow bone above my waist, where I stuck for some time, and made a very ridiculous figure.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)