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Dictionary

dredge

Pronunciation: (drej), [key]
—n., v., dredged, dredg•ing.

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

—v.t.
1. to clear out with a dredge; remove sand, silt, mud, etc., from the bottom of.
2. to take, catch, or gather with a dredge; obtain or remove by a dredge.

—v.i.
1. to use a dredge.
2. dredge up,
a. to unearth or bring to notice: We dredged up some old toys from the bottom of the trunk.
b. to locate and reveal by painstaking investigation or search: Biographers excel at dredging up little known facts.