What does "wedge" mean?

Additional senses

1. 2.A mass of metal, especially when of a wedgelike form. "Wedges of gold." Shak.
2. 3.Anything in the form of a wedge, as a body of troops drawn up in such a form. In warlike muster they appear, In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and wings. Milton.
3. 4.The person whose name stands lowest on the list of the classical tripos; -- so called after a person (Wedgewood) who occupied this position on the first list of 1828. [Cant, Cambridge Univ., Eng.] C. A. Bristed. Fox wedge. (Mach. & Carpentry) See under Fox. -- Spherical wedge (Geom.), the portion of a sphere included between two planes which intersect in a diameter.
4. 5.To cleave or separate with a wedge or wedges, or as with a wedge; to rive. "My heart, as wedged with a sigh, would rive in twain." Shak.
5. 6.To force or drive as a wedge is driven. Among the crowd in the abbey where a finger Could not be wedged in more. Shak. He 's just the sort of man to wedge himself into a snug berth. Mrs. J. H. Ewing.
6. 7.To force by crowding and pushing as a wedge does; as, to wedge one's way. Milton.
7. 8.To press closely; to fix, or make fast, in the manner of a wedge that is driven into something. Wedged in the rocky shoals, and sticking fast. Dryden.
8. 9.To fasten with a wedge, or with wedges; as, to wedge a scythe on the snath; to wedge a rail or a piece of timber in its place.
9. 10.(Pottery) To cut, as clay, into wedgelike masses, and work by dashing together, in order to expel air bubbles, etc. Tomlinson.