dredge

¹

[drej]

noun

1. Also called dredging machine. any of various powerful machines for dredging up or removing earth, as from the bottom of a river, by means of a scoop, a series of buckets, a suction pipe, or the like.

2. a barge on which such a machine is mounted.

3. a dragnet or other contrivance for gathering material or objects from the bottom of a river, bay, etc.

verb (used with object)

dredged, dredging 

1. to clear out with a dredge; remove sand, silt, mud, etc., from the bottom of.

2. to take, catch, or gather with a dredge; obtain or remove by a dredge.

verb (used without object)

dredged, dredging 

1. to use a dredge.

verb phrase

1. dredge up

   1. to unearth or bring to notice.

      We dredged up some old toys from the bottom of the trunk.

   2. to locate and reveal by painstaking investigation or search.

      Biographers excel at dredging up little known facts.

dredge

²

[drej]

verb (used with object)

Cooking.

dredged, dredging 

1. to sprinkle or coat with some powdered substance, especially flour.

dredge

¹

/ drɛdʒ /

noun

1. Also called: dredger. a machine, in the form of a bucket ladder, grab, or suction device, used to remove material from a riverbed, channel, etc

2. another name for dredger 1

verb

1. to remove (material) from a riverbed, channel, etc, by means of a dredge

2. (tr) to search for (a submerged object) with or as if with a dredge; drag

dredge

²

/ drɛdʒ /

verb

1. to sprinkle or coat (food) with flour, sugar, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of dredge¹

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English ( Scots ) dreg, as in dreg-boat “dredge boat,” probably an irregular formation of Old English dragan draw ( def. ); dray ( def. )

Origin of dredge²

First recorded in 1590–1600; verb use of dredge (now obsolete or dialectal) “mixture of grains,” from late Middle English drag(g)e, dreg(g)e, draget(e), apparently to be identified with Middle English drag(g)e, dragie “sweet sauce, confection; mixture of grains, mix or company of people,” from Anglo-French drag(g)é, dragee, from Old French dragie, dragé; possibly related to dragée

Word History and Origins

Origin of dredge¹

C16: perhaps ultimately from Old English dragan to _draw ; see _drag

Origin of dredge²

C16: from Old French dragie, perhaps from Latin tragēmata spices, from Greek

Example Sentences

For him there was too much to get excited about in the 80 minutes to come, without dredging up the past.

Read more on BBC

This included mapping the seabed with sonar arrays and dredging up sediment samples, said the authority.

Read more on Barron's

Environmental groups plan to challenge the approval in court, citing concerns about marine habitat destruction and toxic material dredging.

Read more on Barron's

Newly built ponds, along with the old ones, were dredged, deeper and deeper.

Read more on Literature

Vietnam began reclaiming land on a large scale in 2021, when huge dredging barges appeared near several reefs and rocks in the Spratlys.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• clean 
• widen