1. To be stuck, incapable of proceeding
without help. This is different from having crashed. If the
system has crashed, it has become totally non-functioning. If the
system is wedged, it is trying to do something but cannot make
progress; it may be capable of doing a few things, but not be fully
operational. For example, a process may become wedged if it
deadlocks with another (but not all instances of wedging are
deadlocks). See also gronk, locked up, hos
hung (wedged is more severe than hung). 2. Often refers
to humans suffering misconceptions. "He's totally wedged -- he's
convinced that he can levitate through meditation." 3. [Unix]
Specifically used to describe the state of a TTY left in a losing
state by abort of a screen-oriented program or one that has messed
with the line discipline in some obscure way.
There is some dispute over the origin of this term. It is usually
thought to derive from a common description of recto-cranial
inversion; however, it may actually have originated with older
`hot-press' printing technology in which physical type elements
were locked into type frames with wedges driven in by mallets.
Once this had been done, no changes in the typesetting for that
page could be made.
