The expression “coffee break” was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.
WEDGE
chock, wedge
(noun) a block of wood used to prevent the sliding or rolling of a heavy object
wedge
(noun) something solid that is usable as an inclined plane (shaped like a V) that can be pushed between two things to separate them
wedge
(noun) (golf) an iron with considerable loft and a broad sole
hacek, wedge
(noun) a diacritical mark (an inverted circumflex) placed above certain letters (such as the letter c) to indicate pronunciation
bomber, grinder, hero, hero sandwich, hoagie, hoagy, Cuban sandwich, Italian sandwich, poor boy, sub, submarine, submarine sandwich, torpedo, wedge, zep
(noun) a large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States
wedge, wedge shape, cuneus
(noun) any shape that is triangular in cross section
wedge, squeeze, force
(verb) squeeze like a wedge into a tight space; “I squeezed myself into the corner”
lodge, wedge, stick, deposit
(verb) put, fix, force, or implant; “lodge a bullet in the table”; “stick your thumb in the crack”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Proper noun
Wedge (plural Wedges)
A surname.
Statistics
• According to the 2010 United States Census, Wedge is the 12566th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 2463 individuals. Wedge is most common among White (89.28%) individuals.
Etymology 1
Noun
wedge (plural wedges)
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.
(geometry) A five-sided polyhedron with a rectangular base, two rectangular or trapezoidal sides meeting in an edge, and two triangular ends.
(figurative) Something that creates a division, gap or distance between things.
(archaic) A flank of cavalry acting to split some portion of an opposing army, charging in an inverted V formation.
(golf) A type of iron club used for short, high trajectories.
A group of geese, swans or other birds when they are in flight in a V formation.
One of a pair of wedge-heeled shoes.
(colloquial, British) A quantity of money.
(US, regional) A sandwich made on a long, cylindrical roll.
(typography, US) háček
(phonetics) The IPA character ʌ, which denotes an open-mid back unrounded vowel.
(mathematics) The symbol ∧, denoting a meet (infimum) operation or logical conjunction.
(meteorology) A wedge tornado.
(finance) 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).
Synonyms
• (group of geese): skein
• (phonetics: IPA character ⟨ʌ⟩): turned v
Verb
wedge (third-person singular simple present wedges, present participle wedging, simple past and past participle wedged)
(transitive) To support or secure using a wedge.
(ambitransitive) To force into a narrow gap.
(transitive) To work wet clay by cutting or kneading for the purpose of homogenizing the mass and expelling air bubbles.
(computing, informal, intransitive) Of a computer program or system: to get stuck in an unresponsive state.
(transitive) To cleave with a wedge.
(transitive) To force or drive with a wedge.
(transitive) To shape into a wedge.
Etymology 2
From Wedgewood, surname of the person who occupied this position on the first list of 1828.
Noun
wedge (plural wedges)
(UK, Cambridge University slang) The person whose name stands lowest on the list of the classical tripos.
Synonyms
• wooden wedge
Source: Wiktionary
Wedge, n. Etym: [OE. wegge, AS. wecg; akin to D. wig, wigge, OHG. wecki, G. weck a (wedge-shaped) loaf, Icel. veggr, Dan. vægge, Sw. vigg, and probably to Lith. vagis a peg. Cf. Wigg.]
1. 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.
2. (Geom.)
Definition: A solid of five sides, having a rectangular base, two rectangular or trapezoidal sides meeting in an edge, and two triangular ends.
3. A mass of metal, especially when of a wedgelike form. "Wedges of gold." Shak.
4. Anything in the form of a wedge, as a body of troops drawn up in such a form. In warlike muster they appear, In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and wings. Milton.
5. 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. [Cant, Cambridge Univ., Eng.] C. A. Bristed. Fox wedge. (Mach. & Carpentry) See under Fox.
– Spherical wedge (Geom.), the portion of a sphere included between two planes which intersect in a diameter.
Wedge, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wedged; p. pr. & vb. n. Wedging.]
1. To cleave or separate with a wedge or wedges, or as with a wedge; to rive. "My heart, as wedged with a sigh, would rive in twain." Shak.
2. To force or drive as a wedge is driven. Among the crowd in the abbey where a finger Could not be wedged in more. Shak. He 's just the sort of man to wedge himself into a snug berth. Mrs. J. H. Ewing.
3. To force by crowding and pushing as a wedge does; as, to wedge one's way. Milton.
4. To press closely; to fix, or make fast, in the manner of a wedge that is driven into something. Wedged in the rocky shoals, and sticking fast. Dryden.
5. 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.
6. (Pottery)
Definition: To cut, as clay, into wedgelike masses, and work by dashing together, in order to expel air bubbles, etc. Tomlinson.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
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23 December 2024
QUANDONG
(noun) Australian tree having hard white timber and glossy green leaves with white flowers followed by one-seeded glossy blue fruit
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