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wedge (wĕj)
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n.
1. 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.
2.
a. Something shaped like a wedge: a wedge of pie.
b. A wedge-shaped formation, as in ground warfare.
3.
a. Something that intrudes and causes division or disruption: His nomination drove a wedge into party unity.
b. Something that forces an opening or a beginning: a wedge in the war on poverty.
4. Meteorology See ridge.
5. Sports An iron golf club with a very slanted face, used to lift the ball sharply upward, as from sand.
6. A shoe having a heel that extends across the shank to the half sole, forming a continuous undersurface. Also called wedgie.
7. Downstate New York See submarine sandwich.
8. One of the various triangular marks that are the basic structural elements of cuneiform writing symbols.
9. Sports In snow skiing, the snowplow.
tr.v. wedged, wedg·ing, wedg·es
1. To split or force apart with or as if with a wedge: wedged the board away from the stud; neighbors who were wedged apart by a dispute.
2. To fix in place or tighten with a wedge: wedged the window frame to be level.
3. To crowd or squeeze into a limited space: wedged the books into the backpack.
[Middle English wegge, from Old English wecg.]
(click for a larger image)
wedge
top: wedge golf club
bottom:
wedge sandal
(click for a larger image)
wedge
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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