Gauge
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gauge¹
- /ˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/ Canada, US, UK
- /ˈɡæɪd͡ʒ/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like gage · Rhymes with -eɪdʒ
Where it comes from
From Middle English gauge, gaugen, from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French gauger (compare Modern French jauger from Old French jaugier), from gauge (“gauging rod”), from Frankish *galgā (“measuring rod, pole”), from Proto-Germanic *galgô (“pole, stake, cross”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰalgʰ-, *ǵʰalg- (“perch, long switch”). Cognate with Old High German galgo, Old Frisian galga, Old English ġealga (“cross-beam, gallows”), Old Norse galgi (“cross-beam, gallows”), Old Norse gelgja (“pole, perch”). Doublet of gallows.
noun gauges · gage
- A measure; a standard of measure; an instrument to determine dimensions, distance, or capacity; a standard 1780, Edmund Burke, speech at The Guildhall, in Bristol the gauge and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt
- An act of measuring.
- An estimate.
- Any instrument for ascertaining or regulating the level, state, dimensions or forms of things
- A thickness of sheet metal or wire designated by any of several numbering schemes, with lower numbers indicating larger size.
- Ellipsis of track gauge.track gauge It was Locke who concisely won the argument for a standardised gauge of 4ft 8½ inches over Brunel's 7ft 0 ¼in preference. […] Today, over 60% of the world's railways use that gauge.
- Ellipsis of loading gauge.loading gauge
- A semi-norm; a function that assigns a non-negative size to all vectors in a vector space.
- The number of stitches per inch, centimetre, or other unit of distance.
- Relative positions of two or more vessels with reference to the wind. A vessel has the weather gauge of another when on the windward side of it, and the lee gauge when on the lee side of it.
- The depth to which a vessel sinks in the water.
- The quantity of plaster of Paris used with common plaster to make it set more quickly.
- That part of a shingle, slate, or tile, which is exposed to the weather, when laid; also, one course of such shingles, slates, or tiles.
- A unit of measurement which describes how many spheres of bore diameter of a shotgun can be had from one pound of lead; 12 gauge is roughly equivalent to .75 caliber.
- A shotgun (synecdoche for 12 gauge shotgun, the most common chambering for combat and hunting shotguns). I'm talking about cocking a gauge in between your eyes.
- A tunnel-like ear piercing consisting of a hollow ring embedded in the lobe. Jenni didn't really look as though she fit in with the rest of the girls here, she had a nose piercing and angel bites, her long curly dark brown hair with red highlights was pulled back exposing gauges and many other ear piercings and a tattoo […]
- Cannabis. […] smoking gauge was a new phenomenon to Himes: “When I looked up after turning the corner, all the grimy facades seemed to be a blaze of bright colors, gold, scarlet, blue, green, like an array of peacocks. […]
verb gauges · gauging · gauged · gage
- To measure or determine with a gauge; to measure the capacity of.
- To estimate.
- To appraise the character or ability of; to judge of. You shall not gauge me / By what we do to-night.
- To draw into equidistant gathers by running a thread through it.
- To mix (a quantity of ordinary plaster) with a quantity of plaster of Paris.
- To chip, hew or polish (stones, bricks, etc) to a standard size and/or shape.
Gauge²
proper noun
- A male given name.
