wedge
/wɛd͡ʒ/ noun C1- 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.
- A piece (of food, metal, wood etc.) having this shape. · 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.
- A five-sided polyhedron with a rectangular base, two rectangular or trapezoidal sides meeting in an edge, and two triangular ends.
- A voussoir, one of the wedge-shaped blocks forming an arch or vault.
- Something that creates a division, gap or distance between things. · Near-synonyms: wedge issue, salami tactics, culture wars· drive a wedge between [persons, peoples, camps, allies, etc.]
- A type of iron club used for short, high trajectories; a shot made with such a club.
- One of a pair of wedge-heeled shoes, which lift the heel of the foot from the ground.
- A háček.
Plural wedges
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
THE WOODCUTTER cut down a Mountain Oak and split it in pieces, making wedges of its own branches for dividing the trunk.
The Oak said with a sigh, “I do not care about the blows of the axe aimed at my roots, but I do grieve at being torn in pieces by these wedges made from my own branches.”
A large stone had served as a wedge; flints and pebbles had been inserted around it, so as to conceal the orifice; this species of masonry had been covered with earth, and grass and weeds had grown there, moss had clung to the stones, myrtle-bushes had taken root, and the old rock seemed fixed to the earth.
Dantès saw that he must attack the wedge.
Other matches
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