sledge
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L327923 on Wikidata ↗verb
- travel in a sled, sledge or sleigh
- hit with a sledgehammer
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /slɛd͡ʒ/
name
Etymology: From sledge.
- A surname.
noun
Etymology: From Sledge (“a surname”), influenced by sledgehammer. First attested in the 1960s in Australian English. According to Ian Chappell, originated in Adelaide during the 1963/4 or 1964/5 Sheffield Shield season. A cricketer who swore in the presence of a woman was taken to be as subtle as a sledgehammer (meaning unsubtle) and was called “Percy” or “Sledge”, from singer Percy Sledge (whose song When a Man Loves a Woman was a hit at the time). Directing insults or obscenities at the opposition team then became known as sledging.
- An instance of sledging.
“Now that's what I call a sledge.”
verb
Etymology: From Sledge (“a surname”), influenced by sledgehammer. First attested in the 1960s in Australian English. According to Ian Chappell, originated in Adelaide during the 1963/4 or 1964/5 Sheffield Shield season. A cricketer who swore in the presence of a woman was taken to be as subtle as a sledgehammer (meaning unsubtle) and was called “Percy” or “Sledge”, from singer Percy Sledge (whose song When a Man Loves a Woman was a hit at the time). Directing insults or obscenities at the opposition team then became known as sledging.
- To verbally insult or abuse an opponent in order to distract them (considered unsportsmanlike).
“I've never been one to sledge on the field. I was normally too tired to be bothered, but the one time I did, didn't I cop it.”
“Batteries of fast bowlers softened batsmen up with short-pitched bowling, while fielders tried to disturb their concentration with a running commentary of insults commonly known as sledging.”