dredged; dredging
1
a
: to dig, gather, or pull out with or as if with a dredge (see dredge entry 2)
dredging oysters in the bay
—often used with updredge up silt from the canal bottom
b
civil engineering
: to deepen (a waterway) with a machine that removes earth usually by buckets on an endless chain or a suction tube : to deepen with a dredge (see dredge entry 2 sense 2)
2
: to bring to light by deep searching
—often used with up
dredging up memories
dredged; dredging
: to coat by sprinkling (as with flour)
dredge the chicken in flour
The fish is dredged with a cornmeal mixture and fried.
Synonyms
Examples of dredge in a Sentence
Verb (1)
I've been dredging my memory bank, and I simply can't remember her name
Recent Examples on the Web
Xander Peters, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2024
State of play: Workers are set to dredge and pipe 140,000 cubic yards of sand — enough to fill 43 Olympic swimming pools — to the shore between First and 22nd avenues, per a county news release.
—Kathryn Varn, Axios, 16 July 2024
Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2024
The project, which is designed to include periodic nourishments every five to seven years for 50 years, got off to a rocky start when an original dredge location was delivering more rocks and pebbles than expected and a new borrow location had to be found.
—Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register, 31 Oct. 2024
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Verb
The dunes will be built from sand and sediment that will be dredged from the gulf or local ship channels.
—Xander Peters, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2024
State of play: Workers are set to dredge and pipe 140,000 cubic yards of sand — enough to fill 43 Olympic swimming pools — to the shore between First and 22nd avenues, per a county news release.
—Kathryn Varn, Axios, 16 July 2024
Noun
Walk leaders will first discuss the Los Cerritos Wetlands and then take participants through heritage coastal sage scrub and dredge spoils.
—Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2024
The project, which is designed to include periodic nourishments every five to seven years for 50 years, got off to a rocky start when an original dredge location was delivering more rocks and pebbles than expected and a new borrow location had to be found.
—Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register, 31 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for dredge
Dictionary Entries Near dredge
Cite this Entry
“Dredge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dredge. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
dredge
1 of 3 verb
dredged; dredging
1
a
: to dig, gather, or pull out with or as if with a dredge
dredged up scallops from the sea bottom
b
: to deepen (as a waterway) with a dredge
2
: to bring to light by deep searching
dredging up memories
dredge
2 of 3 noun1
: an iron frame with an attached net used especially to catch fish or shellfish
2
: a machine for removing earth usually by buckets on a continuous chain or by a suction tube
dredge
3 of 3 verb
dredged; dredging
: to coat (food) by sprinkling (as with flour)
Etymology
Noun
probably from Old English dragan "to pull, drag"
Verb
from obsolete dredge (noun) "a candied fruit," derived from early French dragee (same meaning), from Latin tragemata (plural) "candied fruits," from Greek tragēmata (same meaning), derived from trōgein "to gnaw"
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