Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Wedge \Wedge\, n. [OE. wegge, AS. wecg; akin to D. wig, wigge,
   OHG. wecki, G. weck a (wedge-shaped) loaf, Icel. veggr, Dan.
   v[ae]gge, 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.) 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.