sledge
/slɛd͡ʒ/
sledge noun: a sledgehammer.
Noun (1)
sledge (plural sledges)
- A sledgehammer.
- [based on information from Major Hill, Master of the Silver Mills, in 1662, describing silver mining in Cardiganshire] They dig the Oar thus; One holds a little Picque, or Punch of Iron, having a long Handle of Wood which they call a Gad; Another with a great Iron Hammer, or Sledge, drives it into...1737, J. Ray, A Collection of English Words Not Generally Used, With their Significations and Original in two Alphabetical Catalogues; the one, of such as are proper to the Northern, the other, to...
- Sledge hammers are only used for heavy-duty persuading when working on vehicles or machinery.2006, Tom Benford, Garage And Workshop Gear Guide
- Synonyms:
- forehammer, sledgehammer
Verb (1)
sledge (third-person singular simple present sledges, present participle sledging, simple past and past participle sledged)
- To hit with a sledgehammer.
- The rapid and violent exertion of smiths, mightily sledging the glowing iron masses of their furnaces.1842, John O'Donovan, The Banquet of Dun Na N-Gedh and The Battle of Magh Rath: An Ancient and Historical Tale
- When I inquired the reason of this wire being used in the construction of the safe, I was told it was to prevent the doors being broken by either sledging or wedging.2005, Langdon W Moore, Langdon W. Moore: His Own Story of His Eventful Life
Noun (2)
sledge (plural sledges)
- A low sled drawn by animals, typically on snow, ice or grass.
- The sledge ran far better upon the ice; I cannot say the same for the dogs.
- The sledges of the Esquimaux are of large size, varying from six and a half to nine and even eleven feet in length, and from eighteen inches to two feet in breadth.1873, Charles Tomlinson, chapter III, in Winter in the Arctic Regions and Summer in the Antarctic Regions, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, →OCLC, page 122
- any type of sled or sleigh.
- Aged wore out Coal-Horses, which after some time Wrought you will have, may serve turn for Sledge-Horses.1708, F. C. [possibly F. Conyers], Compleat Collier: Or, The Whole Art of Sinking, Getting, and Working, Coal-mines about Sunderland and New-Castle
- Ty'd upon the Sledge, a Papist and a Protestant in front, being two very disparate and antipathetick Companions, was a very ridiculous Science of Cruelty, even worst than Death it self (says he).1716, Myles Davies, Athenae Britannicae: Or, A Critical History of the Oxford and Cambridge Writers And Writings...Part I [the full title stretches for 70 words] reporting a passage in "Nicholas...
- A card game resembling all fours and seven-up; old sledge.
Verb (2)
sledge (third-person singular simple present sledges, present participle sledging, simple past and past participle sledged)
- To drag or draw a sledge.
- It should be remembered, that these explorations were nearly all made by our seamen and officers on foot, dragging sledges, on which were piled tents, provision, fuel for cooking, and raiment. This sledging was brought to perfection by Captain M'Clintock.1860, Sherard Osborn, The career, last voyage and fate of ... Sir John Franklin
- Sledging en route to Mt. Logan on the 1925 first ascent. [caption to photo of four men dragging a sledge]2004, Andy Selters, Ways to the Sky: A Historical Guide to North American Mountaineering
- To ride, travel with or transport in a sledge.
- He was also to initiate me in the American pastime of sleighing, or sledging.1811, Maria Edgeworth, Popular Tales
- When "the great fen or moor" which washed the city walls on the north was frozen over, sliding, sledging, and skating were the sports of crowds.1860, John Timbs, School-days of Eminent Men: I. Sketches of the Progress of Education in England, from the Reign of King Alfred
Verb (3)
sledge (third-person singular simple present sledges, present participle sledging, simple past and past participle sledged)
- To verbally insult or abuse an opponent in order to distract them (considered unsportsmanlike).
- I've never been one to sledge on the field. I was normally too tired to be bothered, but the one time I did, didn't I cop it.1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 182
- Batteries of fast bowlers softened batsmen up with short-pitched bowling, while fielders tried to disturb their concentration with a running commentary of insults commonly known as sledging.1998, Larry Elliott, Daniel E Atkinson, The Age of Insecurity
Noun (3)
sledge (plural sledges)
- An instance of sledging.
- Now that's what I call a sledge.1990, Ashes: Battles and Bellylaughs, Byron Bay: Swan Publishing, page 173
Proper noun capitalized: Sledge
Sledge
- A surname.
sledge meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
sledge in Hindi
- स्लेज
sledge in Tamil
- இழுவை நகர்த்தி
sledge in Urdu
- سلیج
sledge in Bengali
- শ্লেজ গাড়ি, বড় হাতুড়ি
More languagesFewer languages
- sledge in Telugu
- స్లెడ్జ్, స్లెడ్జింగ్ చేయడానికి
- sledge in Malayalam
- ഹിമവണ്ടി, മഞ്ഞിൽകൂടി സഞ്ചക്കാനുള്ള തെന്നുവണ്ടി, മഞ്ഞുവണ്ടി, ഉരുളില്ലാവണ്ടി
- sledge in Kannada
- ಜಾರುಬಂಡಿ
- sledge in Punjabi
- ਸਲੈੱਜ, ਸਲੈਜ, ਸਲੈੱਜਿੰਗ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
- sledge in Gujarati
- બરફગાડી baraphgāḍī
- sledge in Odia
- ସ୍ଲେଜ୍, ସ୍ଲେଜ, ସ୍ଲେଜିଂ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
- sledge in Nepali
- स्लेज गर्न
Examples of sledge in a sentence
- There are also Winter Paralympic Games with Alpine and Nordic events, as well as sledge hockey - a form of ice hockey using a seated sledge.2006, Richard Higgins, Peter Brukner, Bryan English, editors, Essential Sports Medicine:
- "Bloody hell even their sledging is now shite!!!" he sledged.2013 November 6, Marina Hyde, “Whatever Shane Warne says, the Ashes sledgers need to raise their game”, in The Guardian:
Synonyms of sledge
Forms of sledge
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | sledges |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | sledges |
| present participle | sledging |
| past participle | sledged |
| past | sledged |
Origin of sledge
From Middle English slegge, from Old English sleċġ (“sledgehammer; mallet”), from Proto-Germanic *slagjǭ. Cognate with Dutch slegge (“sledge”), Swedish slägga (“sledge”), Norwegian Bokmål slegge (“sledge”), Norwegian Nynorsk sleggje (“sledge”), Icelandic sleggja (“sledge”).
Dialectal Dutch sleedse, from Middle Dutch sleedse, from the root of sled.
From Sledge (“a surname”), influenced by sledgehammer. First attested in the 1960s in Australian English. According to Ian Chappell, originated in Adelaide during the 1963/4 or 1964/5 Sheffield Shield season. A cricketer who swore in the presence of a woman was taken to be as subtle as a sledgehammer (meaning unsubtle) and was called “Percy” or “Sledge”, from singer Percy Sledge (whose song When a Man Loves a Woman was a hit at the time). Directing insults or obscenities at the opposition team then became known as sledging.
Words formed from sledge
Phrases with sledge
Words that rhyme with sledge
Questions about sledge
- What does sledge mean?
- Sledge means a sledgehammer.
- What is sledge in Hindi?
- Sledge in Hindi is स्लेज. See Sledge meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use sledge in a sentence?
- There are also Winter Paralympic Games with Alpine and Nordic events, as well as sledge hockey - a form of ice hockey using a seated sledge.
- What part of speech is sledge?
- Sledge can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce sledge?
- Sledge is pronounced /slɛd͡ʒ/.
- What is the plural of sledge?
- The plural of sledge is sledges.
Words near sledge in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sledge (page history and authors); Sledge (page history and authors); sledge (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sledge (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sledge (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sledge (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sledge (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sledge (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); sledge (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sledge (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); બરફગાડી (Gujarati) (page history and authors); sledge (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sledge (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-sledge.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sledge.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sledge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.