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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

sledge.

A sledgehammer.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/slɛd͡ʒ/
  1. A sledgehammer.

Where this word comes from

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”).

verb/slɛd͡ʒ/
  1. To hit with a sledgehammer.

Where this word comes from

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”).

noun/slɛd͡ʒ/
  1. 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.
  2. any type of sled or sleigh.

    UK
  3. A card game resembling all fours and seven-up; old sledge.

Where this word comes from

Dialectal Dutch sleedse, from Middle Dutch sleedse, from the root of sled.

verb/slɛd͡ʒ/
  1. To drag or draw a sledge.

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

Where this word comes from

Dialectal Dutch sleedse, from Middle Dutch sleedse, from the root of sled.

verb/slɛd͡ʒ/
  1. To verbally insult or abuse an opponent in order to distract them (considered unsportsmanlike).

    Australia
Where this word comes from

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.

noun/slɛd͡ʒ/
  1. An instance of sledging.

    Australia
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.