noun, verb, sledged, sledg⋅ing.| 1. | a vehicle of various forms, mounted on runners and often drawn by draft animals, used for traveling or for conveying loads over snow, ice, rough ground, etc. |
| 2. | a sled. |
| 3. | British. a sleigh. |
| 4. | to convey or travel by sledge. |
| 5. | British. to sleigh. |
| sledgehammer (defs. 1, 2). |
sledge
any freight- or passenger-carrying device that is dragged or pushed without the aid of wheels. The travois of the North American Indian was a sledge consisting of two transversely connected wooden shafts dragged at an angle to the ground. Sledges date back to antiquity; Assyrian and Egyptian reliefs depict huge statues being pulled by sledge. The arrival of the wheel and axle ended the use of the sledge except in its snow-and-ice surface form of sled-a body mounted on runners. See also litter
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