SLEDGE, a kind of carriage without wheels, for the conveyance of weighty things, as stones, bells, and the like. The sledge for carrying criminals, condemned for high treason, to execution, is called a hurdle. The Dutch have a kind of sledge on which they can carry a vessel of any burden by land. It consists of a plank of the length of the keel of a moderate ship, raised a little behind, and hollow in the middle; so that the sides go a little aslope, and are furnished with holes to receive pins. The rest is quite even.
SLEDGE is a large smith's hammer, to be used with both hands. Of this there are two sorts, the up-hand sledge, which is used by under workmen, when the work is not of the largest sort. The other, which is called the about-
sledge, and which is used for battering or drawing out the largest work, is held by the handle with both hands, and swung round over their heads, at their arm's end, to strike as hard a blow as they can.