"thin edge of the wedge" meaning in English

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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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          "ref": "1877, The Analyst, page 381:",
          "text": "But the great difficulty was the getting in the thin edge of the wedge; when once they had anything to do with price they must apply it to everything.",
          "type": "quote"
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        {
          "ref": "1903, Albert Shaw, The American Monthly Review of Reviews, page 196:",
          "text": "But at last the thin edge of the wedge of reform had been pushed in.",
          "type": "quote"
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        {
          "ref": "1996, Dale Belman et al., Public Sector Employment in a Time of Transition, page 247:",
          "text": "the thin edge of the wedge was further widened by the fact that a socialist party [...] broke precedent [...].",
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        "Alternative form of thin end of the wedge"
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  "word": "thin edge of the wedge"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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          "word": "thin end of the wedge"
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        },
        {
          "ref": "1903, Albert Shaw, The American Monthly Review of Reviews, page 196:",
          "text": "But at last the thin edge of the wedge of reform had been pushed in.",
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        },
        {
          "ref": "1996, Dale Belman et al., Public Sector Employment in a Time of Transition, page 247:",
          "text": "the thin edge of the wedge was further widened by the fact that a socialist party [...] broke precedent [...].",
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        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of thin end of the wedge"
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