| wedge |
noun |
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., A solid of five sides, having a rectangular base, two rectangular or trapezoidal sides meeting in an edge, and two triangular ends., A mass of metal, especially when of a wedgelike form., Anything in the form of a wedge, as a body of troops drawn up in such a form., 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., To cleave or separate with a wedge or wedges, or as with a wedge; to rive., To force or drive as a wedge is driven., To force by crowding and pushing as a wedge does; as, to wedge one’s way., To press closely; to fix, or make fast, in the manner of a wedge that is driven into something., 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., To cut, as clay, into wedgelike masses, and work by dashing together, in order to expel air bubbles, etc. |