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Broad and truncate at the summit, and tapering down to the base; as, a wedge-shaped leaf.

Usually a curved member made up of separate wedge-shaped solids, with the joints between them disposed in the direction of the radii of the curve; used to support the wall or other weight above an opening. In this sense arches are segmental, round (i. e., semicircular), or pointed.

A wedge-shaped brick used in the building of an arch.

A wedge-shaped stone used in an arch; a voussoir.

A wedge-shaped piece of cloth taken out of a garment (as the waist of a dress) to diminish its circumference.

A piece of wood or metal, commonly wedge-shaped, used for fastening together parts of a machine or structure. It is driven into an opening through one or all of the parts.

Relating to a wedge; wedge-shaped.

Wedge-shaped; (Bot.), wedge-shaped, with the point at the base; as, a cuneate leaf.

Wedge-shaped; as, a cuneiform bone; -- especially applied to the wedge-shaped or arrowheaded characters of ancient Persian and Assyrian inscriptions. See Arrowheaded.

A pointed or wedge-shaped instrument of metal, as a steel wedge used in mining, etc. I will go get a leaf of brass, And with a gad of steel will write these words. Shak.

eft is made in the end of the scion by two sloping cuts, and the end of the stock is made wedge-shaped to fit the cleft in the scion, which is placed upon it saddlewise. -- Side grafting, a mode of grafting in which the scion, cut quite across very obliquely, so as to give it the form of a slender wedge, is thrust dow…

An East Indian palm (Caryota urens) having leaves pinnate with wedge-shaped divisions, the petiole very stout. It is the principal source of jaggery, and is often cultivated for ornament.

l, an instrument for soldering, consisting of a bit or bolt of copper having a pointed or wedge-shaped end, and furnished with a handle.

To give off spalls, or wedge-shaped chips; -- said of stone, as when badly set, with the weight thrown too much on the outer surface.

A mineral found usually in thin, wedge-shaped crystals of a yellow or green to black color. It is a silicate of titanium and calcium; titanite.

Wedge-shaped; as, a sphenoid crystal.

plant (Pistia stratiotes) which floats on tropical waters, and forms a rosette of spongy, wedge-shaped leaves. J. Smith (Dict. Econ. Plants).

A friction gear wheel with wedge-shaped circumferential grooves. -- Wedge gearing.

ecies of small marine bivalves belonging to Donax and allied genera in which the shell is wedge-shaped.

An Australian crested insessorial bird (Sphenostoma cristatum) having a wedge-shaped bill. Its color is dull brown, like the earth of the plains where it lives.