dredge

plural dredges

1. Any instrument used to gather or take by dragging; as:
   1. A dragnet for taking up oysters, etc., from their beds.
   2. A dredging machine.

      The section includes also combination bucket and suction dredges, true suction dredgers, the Friihling dredge, the reclamation dredge, the longshoot dredge, the hopper barge, the self-propelling hopper, and the rock cutter.

      1923, Marine Engineer and Naval Architect - Volume 46, page 162

   3. An iron frame, with a fine net attached, used in collecting animals living at the bottom of the sea.
2. The act of dredging.

   A dredge of the river is not possible at this time due to the strong currents and dangerous riptides which plague the St. Lawrence after the ice melts.

   2021, Suanne Laqueur, Here to Stay

3. Very fine mineral matter held in suspension in water.

present singular third person dredges · participle present dredging · participle past dredged · past dredged

1. To make a channel deeper or wider using a dredge.
2. To bring something to the surface with a dredge.

   1 more example

   Subject to flooding by the six small rivers coming together just west of the city, the main river below the city has long been shallow and subject to silting. The Communists have both maintained the earlier pattern of dredging the river, and have built a bypass flood canal around the city on the south side to relieve flood pressures. Though dredging can keep the river navigable for small ships, a new artificial port, Sinkang, able to take 10,000 ton ships at all times, was created at T'ang-ku. This is kept open for about two months during winter by icebreakers.

   1972, “TIENTSIN (T'IEN-CHING)”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 21, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 1140, column 1

3. transitiveusuallyTo unearth.

   to dredge up someone's unsavoury past

   1 more example

   Friday night’s crowning victory at The Hawthorns was the 25th in 30 league matches since Antonio Conte’s decisive re-gearing of his team in September, the tactical switches that have coaxed such a thrilling run from this team of bolt-ons and upcycled squad players, most notably Victor Moses, who was dredged out of the laundry bin in the autumn to become a key part of the title surge.

   2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in The Guardian

plural dredges

1. countablecookingA large shaker for sprinkling spices or seasonings during food preparation.
2. uncountableA mixture of oats and barley.

   It is true that on the boulder clay of south Cambridgeshire they grew dredge, a mixture of oats and barley

   1991, Edward Miller, Joan Thirsk, The Agrarian History of England and Wales: Volume 3, 1348-1500

   Synonyms: bullimong

present singular third person dredges · participle present dredging · participle past dredged · past dredged

1. transitivecookingTo sprinkle (food) with spices or seasonings, using a dredge.

   Dredge the meat with the flour mixture you prepared earlier.

plural Dredges

1. A surname.