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Definition sledge

Etymology 1

From Middle English slegge, from Old English sle?? (“sledgehammer; mallet”), from Proto-Germanic *slagj?. Cognate with Dutch slegge (“sledge”), Swedish slägga (“sledge”), Norwegian Bokmål slegge (“sledge”), Norwegian Nynorsk sleggje (“sledge”), Icelandic sleggja (“sledge”), German Schlägel.

Noun

sledge (plural sledges)

1. A heavy, long handled maul or hammer used to drive stakes, wedges, etc.

Verb

sledge (third-person singular simple present sledges, present participle sledging, simple past and past participle sledged)

1. to hit with a sledgehammer.

Etymology 2

Dialectal Dutch sleedse

Noun

sledge (plural sledges)

1. A low sled drawn by animals, typically on snow, ice or grass.
2. (Britain) any type of sled or sleigh.
3. A card game resembling all fours and seven-up; old sledge.

Verb

sledge (third-person singular simple present sledges, present participle sledging, simple past and past participle sledged)

1. To drag or draw a sledge.
2. To ride, travel with or transport in a sledge.

Etymology 3

From Sledge (“a surname”), influenced by sledgehammer. Australian from 1960s. 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.