Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also wage) silver, money in general.

1703		Hell Upon Earth 6: Wedge, Silver.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: wedge [...] Money.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 36: They go in the Morning just as the Maids open the Doors and Windows, and glee into them; that is, look into them to see if there’s any Wage of any Sort, i.e., Silver.
1768		(con. 1710–25) Tyburn Chronicle II in Groom (1999) xxix: Wedge Silver.
c.1811		‘A Leary Mot’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 77: For he valued neither Cove nor Swell, for he had wedge snug in his cly.
1834		‘Oh! Lady Touch That Lute’ in Black Joke 37: Tho’ we are now without a mag, / We’ll soon have lots of wedge.
1842		Egan ‘Miss Dolly Trull’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 143: She ogles, nods, and patters flash / To ev’ry flatty cully / Until she frisks him, at a splash / Of rhino, wedge, and tully.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 21/2: Our luck turned out to be two ten-pound notes — a five and nine ‘quid’ in ‘ridge’, besides about thirty shillings in ‘wedge,’ (silver).
1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 9: Wedge - Silver.
1891		F.W. Carew Autobiog. of a Gipsey 417: Old Father Nat swore I must’er been scammered and ’ad made a mistake in samplin’ the wedge.
1894		A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 152: Failing the more desirable wedge, one might claim a pair or two of daisies put out for cleaning.
1904		Trans. Gaelic Soc. Inverness 24 450: Wedj, silver.
1914		E. Pugh Cockney At Home 162: ‘But if I’d a brightful o’osh,’ she said, ‘I wouldn’t parker no wedge to you.’.
1925		E. Jervis 25 Years in Six Prisons 68: When the ‘wedge’ (as the melted-down silver or gold is called – in fact, the word was used for any silver or gold articles) was to be taken away, one of the cutest dodges was to put it at the bottom of one of those gallon baskets in which street-vendors carry their fruit.
1985		A. Payne ‘Minder on the Orient Express’ in Minder [TV script] 61: We are among influential people, people with a right bit of wedge.
1986		R.G. Barrett Godson 197: ‘[T]here might even be a bit of wedge in it for you’.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 23: Never got a gaff for the night or any wedge or just fucked off there he was away down the road smashing the old mirrors.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 82: You’ll think differently when you have your wedge out.

2. (also wedy) silver plate.

1714		A. Smith Lives of Most Noted Highway-men, etc. n.p.: She was gone far enough off with the Wedge, that’s to say, Plate.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: wedge Plate, or Silver or Gold Moveables and Trinkets.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1788		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd edn) n.p.: wedge Silver plate, because melted by the receivers of stolen goods into wedges. Cant.
1791		‘Flash Lang.’ in Confessions of Thomas Mount 18: Silver plate of any sort, wedge.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1824		letter 28 Dec. in Pierce Egan’s Life in London (10 Apr. 1825) 83/2: I collected as much wedy (plate), as we could well take away, and having done this, mad [sic] our retreat .
1826		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 12 Nov. 748/3: The dessert China Service was elegant to the echo, and as a flash Cove would chaff, the wedge all over the table was enough to have furnished pledges of its value and excellence for at least half a dozen Uncles.
1842		Egan ‘Jack Flashman’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 141: Jack long was on the town, a teazer; / A spicy blade for wedge or sneezer; / Could turn his fives to anything / Nap a reader, or filch a ring.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 94: wedge Silver-ware. wedge-box A silver snuff-box.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 15/2: Next morning the ‘wedge’ was ‘fenced.’.
1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 500: At last they told me about wedge (silver-plate), how I should know it by the ramp (hall-mark — rampant lion?).
1887		‘Dagonet’ ‘A Plank Bed Ballad ’ in Referee 12 Feb. n.p.: If I pipe a good chat, why, I touch for the wedge, / But I’m not a ‘particular’ robber.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 93: Wedge, silver ware; a silver snuff box.
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 260: He’ll see a parcel of wedge – which is plate – into the pot right under the noses o’ the splits.
1923		Northern Whig 12 Sept. 8/6: I couldn’t pipe no peter, and no wedge worth a hog.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		P. Hoskins No Hiding Place! 192/2: Wedge. Silver-plate.

3. (UK Und.) a silver buckle.

1738		Ordinary of Newgate Accounts 8 Nov. 🌐 He told Dr. Fluellin, he had seen a Tale, (a Sword) a Scout, (a Watch) a Calm and Shade, (a Hat and Wig) a Brace of Wedges, (Silver Buckles) and an outside Toge, (a Cloak).
1741		Ordinary of Newgate Account 31 July 🌐 We [...] took his § Wedges out of his ? Stomps [...] § Buckles.

4. (UK Und.) a receiver [? backsl. Jew; ? the silver plate was melted down into wedges by receivers].

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 260/1: Wedge (Thieves’). Jew. A wedge fixes objects or breaks them up. So a Jew-fence, in relation with thieves, or a Jew ordinary, in his everyday business, is supposed to ’wedge the other.

5. a thick, chunky roll of banknotes, usu. folded in half; thus a large amount of money or wealth in general.

1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 207: Wedge Large number of banknotes folded once.
1989		C. Jennings Mouthful of Rocks 92: Pay up . . . flash the wedge a bit to impress her .
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 11: ‘Iss loads innit’ [...] ‘Yeah a wedge.’.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 256: Tidy fanny wi real brains always take the short-cut by marrying wedge and getting sorted out with some plastic.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 19: Morty is rubbing the wedge up against his bollocks.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 12: Each an every truck is a wedge a proper wedge. Which is to say a livin.
2005		Guardian Society 13 July 🌐 He’s had a wedge of money.

6. (Aus.) a share of (illicit) profits.

1986

R.G. Barrett Godson 26: ‘And what’s your wedge?’ ‘My wedge?’ Dutchy [...] tossed the money casually on to a table [...] ‘The lot’.

7. in specific use of sense 5, a bribe.

2009

T. Black Gutted 249: Rab feeds Jonny a wedge to turn a blindy to the dog fights.