wedgie

English

A male receiving a wedgie.

Etymology

From wedge +‎ -ie.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛdʒ.i/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛdʒi

Noun

wedgie (plural wedgies)

1. (colloquial) A wedge-heeled shoe.
   • 1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN:

     Her brown wedgies squeaked with discount price defiance, as she walked redly and pinkly along the broken brick sidewalk.

2. (slang) A prank in which a person's underpants are pulled up sharply from behind in order to wedge the clothing uncomfortably between the person's buttocks.
   • 2003, James Oliver Cury, The Playboy Guide to Bachelor Parties: Everything You Need to Know About Planning the Groom's Rite of Passage-From Simple to Sinful, page 228:

     If the strippers learn that there is a bachelor party, they will often call the groom onstage and publicly embarrass him. They may tie him up, whip him, tease him, give him a wedgie, cover him in whipped cream, beat his ass with a belt, put a dog collar on him, walk him around the stage like a dog, and/or humiliate him with whatever objects are at their disposal.

   • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     When Laura tells Bart that she can teach him to dance, Bart and Laura are suddenly transformed into Astaire and Rogers in a black-and-white fantasy sequence before Bart’s reverie is abruptly ended when Laura reverts back to bratty tomboy form and gives him a wedgie.

3. (slang) A situation where a person's underpants are stuck uncomfortably between their buttocks.
   • 2012, Beverly Rivers, The Metamorphosis of Princess Kizziemae, page 38:

     I thought, maybe she had an uncomfortable wedgie or something and was trying to work that out. I looked away thinking how embarrassing it must be especially with people staring.

4. (basketball, slang) A basketball stuck between the rim and the backboard following a field goal, free throw, rebound, or block attempt.
5. (Australia) A wedge-tailed eagle.
   • 2003, Susannah Farfor, David Andrew, Hugh Finlay, Northern Territory, page 27:

     The white-bellied sea eagle is almost as big as a wedgie and handsomely marked in grey and white.

   • 2024, David Owen, David Pemberton, Tasmanian Devil, Allen & Unwin, page 58:

     Well over a century later the ‘wedgie’ continues to be persecuted, with some rural Tasmanians taking a gun to it when they can.

Synonyms

• (prank): snuggie

Derived terms

• atomic wedgie
• frontal wedgie

Translations

prank in which a person's underpants are pulled up sharply

• Czech: zářez (cs) m
• Danish: olfert (da) c
• French: tire-slip (fr) m
• German: Hosenzieher pl or n
• Hebrew: לבני להכניס טריז m (lavanay lehekhnis triz)
• Italian: sparticulo m
• Japanese: ウェッジー (wedjī)
• Norwegian: truserøsk m (wedgie on a woman)
• Portuguese: cueção m, cuecão (pt) m
• Spanish: calzón chino
• Swedish: kalsongryck n, trosryck n

See also

• melvin

Verb

wedgie (third-person singular simple present wedgies, present participle wedgying, simple past and past participle wedgied)

1. (slang) To play the wedgie prank on.
   • 1989, Michael Moffatt, Coming of Age in New Jersey, page 86:

     Last year's juniors had wedgied last year's freshmen, and then each freshman victim had happily joined the patrol, its aficionados claimed.