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sledge

 - 6 dictionary results

sledge

1[slej] noun, verb, sledged, sledg⋅ing.
–noun
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.
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
4. to convey or travel by sledge.
–verb (used without object)
5. British. to sleigh.

Origin:
1595–1605; < dial. D sleeds, deriv. of slede sled; cf. sleigh

sledge

2[slej]
–noun, verb (used with object), verb (used without object), sledged, sledg⋅ing.
sledgehammer (defs. 1, 2).

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME slegge, OE slecg; c. D slegge, ON sleggja; akin to slay
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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sledge   (slěj)   
n.  A vehicle mounted on low runners drawn by work animals, such as horses or dogs, and used for transporting loads across ice, snow, and rough ground.
tr. & intr.v.   sledged, sledg·ing, sledg·es
To convey or travel on a sledge.

[Dutch dialectal sleedse, perhaps diminutive of Dutch slede, sled, from Middle Dutch sledde.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

sledge  (1)
"heavy hammer," O.E. slecg, from P.Gmc. *slagj- (cf. O.N. sleggja, M.Swed. sleggia "sledgehammer"), related to slean "to strike" (see slay). Sledgehammer, first attested 1495, is pleonastic.

sledge  (2)
"sleigh," 1617, from dialectal Du. sleedse, variant of slede (see sled); said to be of Frisian origin.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia

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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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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