wedge

1. 1

   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.countableuncountable

   • Stick a wedge under the door, will you? It keeps blowing shut.
2. 2

   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.; A piece (of food, metal, wood etc.) having this shape.countableuncountable

   • Can you cut me a wedge of cheese?
   • We ordered a box of baked potato wedges with our pizza, and an iceberg wedge as our side salad.
3. 3

   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.; A five-sided polyhedron with a rectangular base, two rectangular or trapezoidal sides meeting in an edge, and two triangular ends.countableuncountable

4. 4

   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.; A voussoir, one of the wedge-shaped blocks forming an arch or vault.countableuncountable

5. 5

   Something that creates a division, gap or distance between things.countablefigurativelyuncountable

   • Near-synonyms: wedge issue, salami tactics, culture wars
   • drive a wedge between [persons, peoples, camps, allies, etc.]
6. 6

   Something that creates a division, gap or distance between things.; A type of iron club used for short, high trajectories; a shot made with such a club.countablefigurativelyuncountable

7. 7

   Something that creates a division, gap or distance between things.; One of a pair of wedge-heeled shoes, which lift the heel of the foot from the ground.countablefigurativelyuncountable

   • She was wearing wedges, and I have a horrible suspicion they were her mum's wedges left over from the last century.
8. 8

   Any symbol shaped like a V in some given orientation.; A háček.UScountableuncountable

   • The wedge is used in Czech and is illustrated by the Czech name for the diacritic, haček.
   • The tilde and the circumflex have a place in the ASCII scheme but the wedge and the umlaut do not.
9. 9

   Any symbol shaped like a V in some given orientation.; The IPA character ʌ, which denotes an open-mid back unrounded vowel.countableuncountable

   • 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. 10

    Any symbol shaped like a V in some given orientation.; The symbol ∧, denoting a meet (infimum) operation or logical conjunction.countableuncountable

syn. turned v

1. 1

   To support or secure using a wedge.transitive

   • I wedged open the window with a screwdriver.
2. 2

   To force into a narrow gap.ambitransitive

   • He had wedged the package between the wall and the back of the sofa.
   • I wedged into the alcove and listened carefully.
3. 3

   To pack (people or animals) together tightly into a mass.transitive

4. 4

   To work wet clay by cutting or kneading for the purpose of homogenizing the mass and expelling air bubbles.transitive

5. 5

   Of a computer program or system: to get stuck in an unresponsive state.informalintransitive

   • My Linux kernel wedged after I installed the latest update.
6. 6

   To cleave with a wedge.transitive

7. 7

   To force or drive with a wedge.transitive

8. 8

   To shape into a wedge.transitive

1. 1

   The person whose name stands lowest on the list of the classical tripos.UK

   • The last man is called the Wedge, corresponding to the Spoon in Mathematics.