WEDGE, noun [This word signifies a mass, a lump.] 1. A mass of metal; as a wedge of gold or silver. Joshua 7:21. 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, etc. 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 transitive 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.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI