sledge
1 Americannoun
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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.
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a sled.
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British. a sleigh.
verb (used with or without object)
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sledges,
present (3rd person singular)
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sledged,
past participle, past
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sledging
present participle
verb (used without object)
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sledges,
present (3rd person singular)
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sledged,
past participle, past
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sledging
present participle
noun
noun
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Also called: sleigh. a vehicle mounted on runners, drawn by horses or dogs, for transporting people or goods, esp over snow
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a light wooden frame used, esp by children, for sliding over snow; toboggan
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a farm vehicle mounted on runners, for use on rough or muddy ground
verb
verb
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sledgesimple
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sledgessimple
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have sledgedperfect
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has sledgedperfect
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am sledgingprogressive
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are sledgingprogressive
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is sledgingprogressive
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have been sledgingperfect progressive
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has been sledgingperfect progressive
Past
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sledgedsimple
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had sledgedperfect
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was sledgingprogressive
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were sledgingprogressive
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had been sledgingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sledge1
1595–1605; < dialectal Dutch sleeds, derivative of slede sled; cf. sleigh
Origin of sledge2
before 1000; Middle English slegge, Old English slecg; cognate with Dutch slegge, Old Norse sleggja; akin to slay
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He later documented his journeys through India on elephant-back and across Siberia by sledge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
The court also heard that DNA, "likely to have been left by Mr Sheen" was found on a sledge hammer left in the toilet cubicle at the stately home.
From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2025
He also told of the snowy day when Grandad leapt on his sledge and went downhill at an "insane" speed, before racing back up the hill as quickly as possible so no-one missed their go.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2023
At sea level, the oxygen molecules are driven into the lungs and into the blood with the force of a sledge hammer.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 2, 2023
Neither we nor the sledge broke through at all, and the sledge pulled so light that it was hard to believe we are still hauling about a hundred pounds apiece.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Never one to take a backward step, Gill sledged James Anderson and Jonny Bairstow in a Test in India, while umpires have felt his presence when in charge at the IPL.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2025
"I remember him getting sledged by the opposition and he preceded to ramp like he did for Australia against some pretty intimidating first grade bowlers."
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2024
The results showed that, although participants noted feeling more angry and distracted when sledged, it did not affect the overall shooting performance.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 28, 2019
He has navigated the Amazon and sledged across the Arctic.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 14, 2019
More precious foodstores—cases of nuts, boxes of sugar, crates of barley, flour, and jam—were sledged back to the new camp, dubbed Ocean Camp by the men.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
Many people took the opportunity to build snowmen and enjoy a day of sledging, transforming hills across the country into tobogganing slopes.
From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2026
The crowds can be hostile and the Barmy Army are pretty good when it comes to sledging with witty songs.
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2025
There was no aggression thrown at them, no sledging, nothing to throw them off their stride.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2025
It will come as no surprise that Santa will not be sledging through inches of the white stuff here in the UK.
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2024
They would carry sledging rations and biscuits for three days of travel.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
You could get by gondola up to the mouth of the Euclid trail, where the donkey trolleys dragged the sledges up toward Baldy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2025
It’s generally believed that the Egyptians moved massive stone blocks to the heights along large ramps, greased by water or wet clay, using a system of sledges, ropes, rollers, and levers.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 20, 2023
Used only in Antarctica, the fuel is purchased and transported either via cargo plane or by Caterpillars that drive 1,100 miles from McMurdo, towing giant gut sacks of gas on giant sledges.
From Salon ● May 29, 2023
To give him his full moniker, Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes has probably man-hauled sledges farther, endured more blizzards and lost more fingertips to frostbite than the rest of them put together.
From New York Times ● Jan. 28, 2022
So with Pantalaimon as a white hare bounding delicately at her side, she trudged along the line of sledges to where some men were piling brushwood.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
