wedge

noun wedges

1. countable, uncountable One of the simple machines; 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. Stick a wedge under the door, will you? It keeps blowing shut.
2. countable, uncountable A piece (of food, metal, wood etc.) having this shape. Can you cut me a wedge of cheese?
3. countable, uncountable A five-sided polyhedron with a rectangular base, two rectangular or trapezoidal sides meeting in an edge, and two triangular ends.
4. countable, uncountable A voussoir, one of the wedge-shaped blocks forming an arch or vault.
5. countable, figuratively, uncountable Something that creates a division, gap or distance between things. Near-synonyms: wedge issue, salami tactics, culture wars

   Similar: wedge issue, salami tactics, culture war

6. countable, figuratively, uncountable A type of iron club used for short, high trajectories; a shot made with such a club.

   Similar: wedge issue, salami tactics, culture war

7. countable, figuratively, uncountable One of a pair of wedge-heeled shoes, which lift the heel of the foot from the ground. She was wearing wedges, and I have a horrible suspicion they were her mum's wedges left over from the last century.

   Similar: wedge issue, salami tactics, culture war

8. US, countable, uncountable A háček. The wedge is used in Czech and is illustrated by the Czech name for the diacritic, haček.
9. countable, uncountable The IPA character ʌ, which denotes an open-mid back unrounded vowel. Turned V is referred to as “Wedge” by some phoneticians, but this seems inadvisable to us, because the haček accent (ˇ) is also called that in names like Wedge C for (č).
10. countable, uncountable The symbol ∧, denoting a meet (infimum) operation or logical conjunction.
11. countable, uncountable A hairpin, an elongated horizontal V-shaped sign indicating a crescendo or decrescendo.
12. countable, uncountable One of the basic elements that make up cuneiform writing, a single triangular impression made with the corner of a reed stylus.
13. countable, obsolete, uncountable An ingot. Open the Males, yet guard the treaſure ſure. Lay out our golden wedges to the view, That their reflexions may amaze the Perſeans.
14. broadly, obsolete, slang, uncountable Silver or items made of silver collectively.
15. UK, broadly, colloquial, countable, obsolete, uncountable A quantity of money. He's got some decent wedge.
16. archaic, countable, uncountable A flank of cavalry acting to split some portion of an opposing army, charging in an inverted V formation.
17. collective, countable, uncountable A group of cranes, ducks, geese, gulls, pelicans, swans or other birds when they are in flight in a V formation. The girl stopped short off and searched the sky for a wedge of geese.

    Similar: chevron, skein

18. countable, uncountable A wedge tornado.
19. countable, uncountable A barometric ridge; an elongated region of high atmospheric pressure between two low-pressure areas.
20. countable, uncountable A market trend characterized by a contracting range in prices coupled with an upward trend in prices (a rising wedge) or a downward trend in prices (a falling wedge).
21. New York, US, countable, regional, uncountable A sandwich made on a long, cylindrical roll. I ordered a chicken parm wedge from the deli.

    Similar: hero sandwich, more at submarine sandwich

Similar: turned v

verb wedges · wedging · wedged

1. transitive To support or secure using a wedge. I wedged open the window with a screwdriver.

   Similar: scotch

2. ambitransitive To force into a narrow gap. He had wedged the package between the wall and the back of the sofa.
3. transitive To pack (people or animals) together tightly into a mass.
4. transitive To work wet clay by cutting or kneading for the purpose of homogenizing the mass and expelling air bubbles.
5. informal, intransitive Of a computer program or system: to get stuck in an unresponsive state. My Linux kernel wedged after I installed the latest update.
6. transitive To cleave with a wedge.
7. transitive To force or drive with a wedge.
8. transitive To shape into a wedge.

noun wedges

1. UK The person whose name stands lowest on the list of the classical tripos. The last man is called the Wedge, corresponding to the Spoon in Mathematics.

   Similar: wooden wedge

proper noun Wedges

1. A surname.