/ˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈɡæɪd͡ʒ/
OriginFrom 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 *galga (“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.
- countable, uncountableA 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”
“The record of philosophy vis-à-vis silence is generally dismal, as good a gauge as any to its overall failure.”
- countable, uncountableAn act of measuring.
- countable, uncountableAn estimate.
- countable, uncountableAny instrument for ascertaining or regulating the level, state, dimensions or forms of things
- countable, uncountableA thickness of sheet metal or wire designated by any of several numbering schemes, with lower numbers indicating larger size.
- abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountableEllipsis of 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.”
- abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountableEllipsis of loading gauge.
- countable, uncountableA semi-norm; a function that assigns a non-negative size to all vectors in a vector space.
- countable, uncountableThe number of stitches per inch, centimetre, or other unit of distance.
- countable, uncountableRelative 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.”
- countable, uncountableThe depth to which a vessel sinks in the water.
- countable, uncountableThe quantity of plaster of Paris used with common plaster to make it set more quickly.
- countable, uncountableThat part of a shingle, slate, or tile, which is exposed to the weather, when laid; also, one course of such shingles, slates, or tiles.
- countable, uncountableA 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.
- US, broadly, countable, slang, uncountableA 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.”
“I'm tryin to find ways to cope / But I ain't fuckin' round with the gauge or a rope”
“It happens everyday don't make me grab the gauge / Dangerously I play, I best to kill with the gauge / And put ya body in the back of that grey Chevrolet”
- countable, uncountableA 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 gaug”
- slang, uncountableCannabis.
“[…] 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 p”
“When we settled, he said, “You've been smoking gauge, haven't you?””
- transitiveTo measure or determine with a gauge; to measure the capacity of.
- transitiveTo estimate.
- transitiveTo appraise the character or ability of; to judge of.
“You shall not gauge me / By what we do to-night.”
- transitiveTo draw into equidistant gathers by running a thread through it.
- transitiveTo mix (a quantity of ordinary plaster) with a quantity of plaster of Paris.
- transitiveTo chip, hew or polish (stones, bricks, etc) to a standard size and/or shape.
Formsgauges(plural) · gage(alternative, US) · gauges(present, singular, third-person) · gauging(participle, present) · gauged(participle, past) · gauged(past)