dredge

UK: /ˈdrɛdʒ/ US: /drɛdʒ/ ,(drej)

Inflections of 'dredge' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

dredges

v 3rd person singular

dredging

v pres p

dredged

v past

dredged

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

dredge¹ /drɛdʒ/   n., v., dredged, dredg•ing. 
n. [countable]

1. Civil Engineering a powerful machine for removing earth, as by a scoop.

v. [~ + object]

2. Civil Engineering to clear out with a dredge:
   to dredge a river.
3. Civil Engineering to remove (sand, etc.) from the bottom of a body of water:
   to dredge the sand from the river bottom.
4. dredge up, to discover and reveal;
   unearth: [~ + up + object]
   The media dredged up yet another scandal.
   [~ + object + up]
   to dredge stories up.

dredg•er, n. [countable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

dredge¹  (drej), n., v., dredged, dredg•ing. 
n. 

1. Civil Engineering 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. Civil Engineering a barge on which such a machine is mounted.
3. Civil Engineering a dragnet or other contrivance for gathering material or objects from the bottom of a river, bay, etc.

v.t. 

4. Civil Engineering to clear out with a dredge;
   remove sand, silt, mud, etc., from the bottom of.
5. Civil Engineering to take, catch, or gather with a dredge;
   obtain or remove by a dredge.

v.i. 

6. Civil Engineering to use a dredge.
7. dredge up:
   • to unearth or bring to notice:
     We dredged up some old toys from the bottom of the trunk.
   • to locate and reveal by painstaking investigation or search:
     Biographers excel at dredging up little known facts.

• 1425–75; late Middle English (Scots) dreg-, Old English *drecg(e); see dray, draw

dredge²  (drej), v.t., dredged, dredg•ing. [Cookery.]

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

• Anglo-French drag(g)é, dragee, Old French (see dragée); compare similar dual sense of Medieval Latin dragētum, dragium
• verb, verbal use of dredge (now obsolete or dialect, dialectal) mixture of grains, late Middle English dragge, dregge, apparently to be identified with Middle English drag(g)e, dragie (disyllabic) sweetmeat, confection 1590–1600

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

dredge / drɛdʒ/ noun

1. Also called: dredger a machine, in the form of a bucket ladder, grab, or suction device, used to remove material from a riverbed, channel, etc

verb

1. to remove (material) from a riverbed, channel, etc, by means of a dredge
2. (transitive) to search for (a submerged object) with or as if with a dredge; drag

Etymology: 16th Century: perhaps ultimately from Old English dragan to draw; see drag

dredge / drɛdʒ/ verb

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

Etymology: 16th Century: from Old French dragie, perhaps from Latin tragēmata spices, from Greek