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, dredg·ing.

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, dredg·ing.

1. to use a dredge.

verb phrase

1. 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, dredg·ing.

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

dredge

¹

/ drɛdʒ /

verb

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

dredge

²

/ drɛdʒ /

noun

1. Also calleddredger 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

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

Origin of dredge²

C16: perhaps ultimately from Old English dragan to draw ; see drag

Example Sentences

It has been freshly dredged and water is gushing out of a pipe dug into the bank leading from one of the drainage pools.

From BBC

Restrictions on scallop dredging and prawn trawling required additional legislation which ministers promised to introduce in two stages.

From BBC

In a statement, USC said, “This lawsuit, which dredges up events that occurred as many as 10 years ago, has no legal merit.”

From Los Angeles Times

A previous ANU study found waves off the town of Mundaka in northern Spain vanished because of changes to a sand bar after dredging in a nearby river.

From BBC

Witness Donald Trump recently questioning the racial identity of his opponent, Kamala Harris, a race-baiting potshot that dredges up ingrained prejudices against biracial Americans that stretch back to the antebellum South.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• clean
• widen