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Webster 1913 Edition

Wedge

Wedge

(wĕj)
,
Noun.
[OE.
wegge
, AS.
wecg
; akin to D.
wig
,
wigge
, OHG.
wecki
, G.
weck
a (wedge-shaped) loaf, Icel.
veggr
, Dan.
vægge
, Sw.
vigg
, and probably to Lith.
vagis
a peg. Cf.
Wigg
.]
1.
A piece of metal, or other hard material, thick at one end, and tapering to a thin edge at the other, used in splitting wood, rocks, etc., in raising heavy bodies, and the like. It is one of the six elementary machines called the mechanical powers. See Illust. of
Mechanical powers
, under
Mechanical
.
2.
(Geom.)
A solid of five sides, having a rectangular base, two rectangular or trapezoidal sides meeting in an edge, and two triangular ends.
3.
A mass of metal, especially when of a wedgelike form.
“Wedges of gold.”
Shak.
4.
Anything in the form of a wedge, as a body of troops drawn up in such a form.
In warlike muster they appear,
In rhombs, and
wedges
, and half-moons, and wings.
Milton.
5.
The person whose name stands lowest on the list of the classical tripos; – so called after a person (Wedgewood) who occupied this position on the first list of 1828.
[Cant, Cambridge Univ., Eng.]
C. A. Bristed.
Fox wedge
.
(Mach. & Carpentry)
See under
Fox
.
–
Spherical wedge
(Geom.)
,
the portion of a sphere included between two planes which intersect in a diameter.

Wedge

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Wedged
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Wedging
.]
1.
To cleave or separate with a wedge or wedges, or as with a wedge; to rive.
“My heart, as wedged with a sigh, would rive in twain.”
Shak.
2.
To force or drive as a wedge is driven.
Among the crowd in the abbey where a finger
Could not be
wedged
in more.
Shakespeare
He ’s just the sort of man to
wedge
himself into a snug berth.
Mrs. J. H. Ewing.
3.
To force by crowding and pushing as a wedge does;
as, to
wedge
one's way
.
Milton.
4.
To press closely; to fix, or make fast, in the manner of a wedge that is driven into something.
Wedged
in the rocky shoals, and sticking fast.
Dryden.
5.
To fasten with a wedge, or with wedges;
as, to
wedge
a scythe on the snath; to
wedge
a rail or a piece of timber in its place
.
6.
(Pottery)
To cut, as clay, into wedgelike masses, and work by dashing together, in order to expel air bubbles, etc.
Tomlinson.

Webster 1828 Edition

Wedge

WEDGE

,
Noun.
[This word signifies a mass, a lump.]
1.
A mass of metal; as a wedge of gold or silver. Joshua 7.
2.
A piece of metal, particularly iron, thick at one end and sloping to a thin edge at the other, used in splitting wood, rocks, &c. This is one of the five mechanical powers. A like piece of wood is by some persons called a wedge, or a glut.
3.
Something in the form of a wedge. Sometimes bodies of troops are drawn up in the form of a wedge.

WEDGE

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To cleave with a wedge; to rive. [Little used.]
2.
To drive as a wedge is drive; to crowd or compress closely. We were wedged in by the crowd.
3.
To force, as a wedge forces its way; as, to wedge ones way.
4.
To fasten with a wedge or with wedges; as, to wedge on a sythe; to wedge in a rail or a piece of timber.
5.
To fix in the manner of a wedge.
Wedgd in the rocky shoals, and sticking fast.

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