wedge(1) (iou) and Madelung (iou)

wedge(1) (iou)

wedge noun. See also WODGE.

A piece of wood, metal, etc., which has a narrow triangular cross-section and is driven between two objects or parts of an object to split, tighten, or secure them, or to widen an opening etc.; Mechanics this considered as a simple machine, now regarded as a variety of the inclined plane. OE.
Traditional Woodworking Assemble the joint, tapping the wedge into position.
b. Architecture. A voussoir. E18.
a. An ingot of gold, silver, etc. (perh. orig. in the form of a wedge). OE-E18.
b. Silver money or plate. slang (now rare). E18.
fig. A thing acting as a wedge; esp. something creating a split or divide. L16.
the thin end of the wedge a relatively insignificant change, action, measure, etc., which promises or threatens to open the way to further more serious changes or consequences.
Economist To make a bid for..power by driving a wedge between the parties of the..coalition.
A lump or cake of any solid substance. Now rare or dial. L16.
b. A wad of banknotes; (a significant amount of) money. slang (orig. Criminals'). L20.
A thing resembling a wedge in shape or form; a wedge-shaped part or piece of anything; spec. (a) a formation of people (formerly esp. of troops) tapering towards the front, in order to drive a way through opposition; a similar formation adopted by birds, esp. geese, in flight; (b) the wedge-shaped stroke in cuneiform characters; (c) Meteorology = RIDGE noun1 3b; (d) a V-shaped sign or symbol used in various musical and Other notations; (e) Golf a Golf club with a wedge-shaped head, used for lofting the ball at approach shots or out of a bunker etc.; a shot made with such a club; (f) a wedge-shaped heel (also wedge-heel); a shoe with such a heel (also wedge-shoe); (g) a hairstyle in which the ends of the hair are slightly graduated to form a series of wedges. E17.
V. Glendinning The monumental wedge of chocolate cake. attrib.: Time Out The police..adopting their familiar flying wedge formation to break up the picket.
Geometry. A triangular prism; a simple solid formed by cutting a triangular prism by any two planes. Also (in full spherical wedge), a solid formed by two planes meeting along the axis of a sphere. E18.
Heraldry. A charge consisting of an isosceles triangle with a very acute angle at its vertex. E18.
Comb.: wedgebill a bird with a wedge-shaped bill, as (a) an Australian logrunner, Sphenostoma cristatum, which has an upright crest; (b) a hummingbird, Schistes geoffroyi, of Central and S. America; wedge-form, wedge-formed adjectives wedge-shaped; wedge-heel: see sense 5(f) above; wedge issue US a divisive political issue, esp. one that is raised by a candidate for public office in the hope of attracting or alienating an opponent's supporters; wedge photometer: in which the illumination reaching two sides of a wedge of glass from different sources is compared; wedge-shaped adjective (a) shaped like a solid wedge, cuneiform; (b) Botany = CUNEATE; wedge shell (a shell of) any of various marine bivalves of the genus Donax and family Donacidae, which have generally triangular shells; wedge-shoe: see sense 5(f) above; wedgetail Austral. = wedge-tailed eagle below; wedge-tailed adjective having a wedge-shaped tail; wedge-tailed eagle, a large eagle, Aquila audax, which is found throughout Australia; wedge tent an A tent.
wedgelike adjective wedge-shaped; resembling a wedge: L16.
wedgewise adverb after the manner or in the form of a wedge M16.
wedgy adjective (rare) resembling a wedge; wedge-shaped: L18.

Madelung (iou)

Madelung noun. M20.
[Erwin Madelung (1881-1972), German physicist.]
Physical Chemistry.
Madelung constant, a value associated with an ionic crystalline solid and representing the sum of the potential energy of electrostatic attraction between all the ions of the lattice. M20.
Madelung potential, the potential at any point in an ionic lattice due to the combined electric field of all the ions in the lattice. M20.

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