Word of the Day: Sledge
sledge
sledge / slĕj
noun
1. a conveyance or vehicle, mounted on runners, drawn by draft animals, used to transport people or goods across snow, ice or rough ground
During the winter, when the trains are blocked up by the snow, these sledges make extremely rapid journeys across the frozen plains from one station to another.
From “Around the World in Eighty Days” by Jules Verne, 1828 – 1905
2. a long-handled, large, heavy hammer used with two hands; a sledgehammer
Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.
From “The Village Blacksmith” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807 – 1882
verb
1. to transport or be transported over snow, ice or rough ground in a sleigh
Where Peary had sledged across the ice and Byrd had flown over it, the mission of the Nautilus was to investigate the possibility of reaching the Pole by navigating under the ice.
From “Action in Submarines” by Arthur Widder, 1928 – 2020
2. to strike with, or as though using, a long-handled, large, heavy hammer
It had been sledged open with a large hammer found near it, and at a little distance from it were the still warm ashes where the papers had been burned.
“The Reporter”, ‘The Danbury Reporter’, June 21, 1877, Volume II, page 3