wedge
n. countablen. a piece of wood, metal, or other material that is thick at one end and thin at the other. You use it to split things apart or to keep a door open.
n. a piece of material, such as metal or wood, thick at one edge and tapered to a thin edge at the other for insertion into a narrow gap. Used for splitting, lifting, or tightening.
I used a small wooden wedge to keep the door open.
The carpenter hammered a metal wedge into the log to split it into smaller pieces for the fire.
In classical mechanics, the wedge is considered one of the six simple machines, functioning as a portable inclined plane that converts force applied to its blunt end into lateral pressure.
From Middle English wegge (“wedge”), from Old English weċġ (“wedge”), from Proto-West Germanic wagi, from Proto-Germanic wagjaz.
From Wedgewood, surname of the person who occupied this position on the first list of 1828.
Commonly used in the phrase 'drive a wedge between', meaning to cause a disagreement between two people or groups.