dredger

1 of 2

noun (1)

dredg·​er ˈdre-jər 

plural dredgers

: something (such as a barge or a machine) that is used for dredging : dredge entry 2

The groups blame the use of the "Newhaven" scallop dredger, common since the 1970s, for deeper and more damaging fishing practices than ever before.

—Tony Diver

Why buy expensive sand, sourced from licensed mines, when you can anchor your dredger in some remote estuary, blast the sand out of the riverbed with a water jet and suck it up?

—Neil Tweedie

dredger

2 of 2

noun (2)

plural dredgers

: a container with a perforated top that is used to coat food (as with flour or sugar) by sprinkling

While still warm, shake over some sugar from a dredger, then cut into squares or fingers.

—Maxine Gordon

Examples of dredger in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Wildcat miners, using giant excavators, dredgers, and mercury, can devastate miles of river and forest in a matter of days. —Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024

The incidents involved an elevator malfunction that killed a technician in 2018; an officer who fell overboard and died in 2019, who was not wearing a flotation device; and a tanker partly managed by Synergy that collided with a dredger, killing two seafarers. —Danny Nguyen, Washington Post, 27 Mar. 2024

Cabral gave a recap of what led the city to ask the project be halted about three weeks into the dredging, which started in December, with several delays due to the contractor’s dredger breaking. —Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register, 7 Feb. 2024

The earliest a dredger will be available to resume a sand replenishment project in San Clemente is likely going to be just as the busy summer season starts in the coastal town. —Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register, 7 Feb. 2024

Chinese vessels have been known to encircle various atolls and islets, sending dredgers to build artificial islands large enough to harbor tankers and warships. —Kathleen Magramo, CNN, 29 Sep. 2023

China has expanded several islands in the South China Sea, using dredgers and cement machines to not only broaden the size of islets, but build permanent features like seawalls, airfields, and buildings. —Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 18 Aug. 2023

Dotted along the shoreline are dredgers completing work to add artificial sand, groynes, jetties and breakwaters to prevent further coastal erosion. —Time, 3 Aug. 2023

All this was happening in the narrow confines of navigable waterways busy with commercial traffic, as container ships, sand dredgers, tug boats and ferries made their way through the race. —William Booth, Washington Post, 24 July 2023

Word History

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1600, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1666, in the meaning defined above