sledge
1 Americannoun
-
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.
-
a sled.
-
British. a sleigh.
verb (used with or without object)
-
sledges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sledged,
past participle, past
-
sledging
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
sledges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sledged,
past participle, past
-
sledging
present participle
noun
noun
-
Also called: sleigh. a vehicle mounted on runners, drawn by horses or dogs, for transporting people or goods, esp over snow
-
a light wooden frame used, esp by children, for sliding over snow; toboggan
-
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
-
sledgesimple
-
sledgessimple
-
have sledgedperfect
-
has sledgedperfect
-
am sledgingprogressive
-
are sledgingprogressive
-
is sledgingprogressive
-
have been sledgingperfect progressive
-
has been sledgingperfect progressive
Past
-
sledgedsimple
-
had sledgedperfect
-
was sledgingprogressive
-
were sledgingprogressive
-
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:
She made her Winter Paralympic debut in Innsbruck in 1988, winning five golds in cross-country and ice sledge speed skating.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
He later documented his journeys through India on elephant-back and across Siberia by sledge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
In the teams' most recent match, one Bedford player attempted to sledge back at Pollock, suggesting he would be back with the Blues on loan by October.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2025
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
He glanced back at the sledge, a bit of refuse in the vast torment of ice and reddish rock.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
It's all about getting sledged in the airport, or in restaurants.
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2025
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
He has navigated the Amazon and sledged across the Arctic.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 14, 2019
He bowled the world’s highest, silliest bouncer and sledged it up loads while bowling at 70mph.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 7, 2015
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
England could not escape Australian sledging on their break from the Ashes series in the beach town of Noosa.
From BBC ● Dec. 10, 2025
There was no aggression thrown at them, no sledging, nothing to throw them off their stride.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2025
Australia's sledging perhaps masked some of their own struggles as they build towards hosting an Ashes series against England, with captain Pat Cummins hinting changes could be afoot for a forthcoming tour to West Indies.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2025
In the ship’s hold were stores for at least two years, including a recent innovation: concentrated Bovril sledging rations for the trans-Antarctic run on dogsleds.
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
Finally, at midnight on Aug. 11, the sledges and tractors arrived in a blaze of searchlights and a rumble of engines.
From New York Times ● May 5, 2020
“Lord Faa! If Iorek Byrnison takes me over the ridge to the village, we can find out whatever it is, and then catch the sledges up further on. He knows the route,” she urged.
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.
