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
Grainy footage of a game of ice sledge hockey at the Paralympics filled the screen.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2023
That video of sledge hockey - now known as Para-ice hockey - lurked in her memory and so she went to her first session with the Cardiff Huskies.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 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
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
It is a noble intention but I prefer the approach employed by Viv Richards when he was sledged by the Glamorgan fast bowler Greg Thomas.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 28, 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
The mention of snow in our forecasts always pricks people ears up, whether it is the prospect of sledging and snowball fights, or the threat of travel disruption and school closures.
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2024
When they arrived the resort "looked lovely", Mrs O'Neil said, and the family enjoyed their first afternoon there doing some sledging, snowball fights and snow angels.
From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2024
He has been hospitalised in sledging and scooter accidents.
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2023
The call-outs included teams helping with a potential cardiac arrest, a suspected stroke and a suspected spinal injury caused from a sledging accident.
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2023
If the dogs spotted a penguin while on a sledging run, they would chase after it in spite of furious yells from the driver.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
The players use sledges with two blades and two sticks to push themselves and handle the puck, and games consist of three 15-minute periods.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
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
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
The gyptians had planned to stop and rest their dogs, repair a couple of sledges, and get all their weapons into shape for the assault on Bolvangar.
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.
