dredged; dredging
1
a
: to dig, gather, or pull out with or as if with a dredge (see dredge entry 2)
dredging oysters in the bay
—often used with updredge up silt from the canal bottom
b
civil engineering
: to deepen (a waterway) with a machine that removes earth usually by buckets on an endless chain or a suction tube : to deepen with a dredge (see dredge entry 2 sense 2)
2
: to bring to light by deep searching
—often used with up
dredging up memories
dredged; dredging
: to coat by sprinkling (as with flour)
dredge the chicken in flour
The fish is dredged with a cornmeal mixture and fried.
Synonyms
Examples of dredge in a Sentence
Verb (1)
I've been dredging my memory bank, and I simply can't remember her name
Recent Examples on the Web
Philip Diehl, The Mercury News, 30 Dec. 2024
Place flour in a shallow dish; dredge chicken lightly in flour, shaking off excess.
—Elizabeth Nelson, Southern Living, 29 Oct. 2024
airmail.news, 24 Feb. 2024
Get The Recipe 02 of 21 Fried Chicken Wings
This dish uses the classic double dredge method that is so tried and true for many Southern cooks.
—Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 18 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for dredge 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Verb
The results were used to determine the best places to deposit sediment dredged from the river’s navigation channel.
—Philip Diehl, The Mercury News, 30 Dec. 2024
Place flour in a shallow dish; dredge chicken lightly in flour, shaking off excess.
—Elizabeth Nelson, Southern Living, 29 Oct. 2024
Noun
Terri Jordan Sellers, USACE’s biologist for the dredge, was making inexplicable decisions.
—airmail.news, 24 Feb. 2024
Get The Recipe 02 of 21 Fried Chicken Wings
This dish uses the classic double dredge method that is so tried and true for many Southern cooks.
—Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 18 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for dredge
Dictionary Entries Near dredge
Cite this Entry
“Dredge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dredge. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
dredge
1 of 3 verb
dredged; dredging
1
a
: to dig, gather, or pull out with or as if with a dredge
dredged up scallops from the sea bottom
b
: to deepen (as a waterway) with a dredge
2
: to bring to light by deep searching
dredging up memories
dredge
2 of 3 noun1
: an iron frame with an attached net used especially to catch fish or shellfish
2
: a machine for removing earth usually by buckets on a continuous chain or by a suction tube
dredge
3 of 3 verb
dredged; dredging
: to coat (food) by sprinkling (as with flour)
Etymology
Noun
probably from Old English dragan "to pull, drag"
Verb
from obsolete dredge (noun) "a candied fruit," derived from early French dragee (same meaning), from Latin tragemata (plural) "candied fruits," from Greek tragēmata (same meaning), derived from trōgein "to gnaw"
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share