gauge - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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 *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.

gauge (countable and uncountable, plural gauges)

  1. 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
    • 2008 Spring/Summer, John Zerzan, “Silence”, in Green Anarchy‎[1], number 25:
      The record of philosophy vis-à-vis silence is generally dismal, as good a gauge as any to its overall failure.
  2. An act of measuring.
  3. An estimate.
  4. Any instrument for ascertaining or regulating the level, state, dimensions or forms of things
  5. A thickness of sheet metal or wire designated by any of several numbering schemes, with lower numbers indicating larger size.
  6. (rail transport) Ellipsis of track gauge.
    • 2023 August 23, David E Norris, “Joseph Locke: a railway injustice...”, in RAIL, number 990, page 57:
      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.
  7. (rail transport) Ellipsis of loading gauge.
  8. (mathematics, mathematical analysis) A semi-norm; a function that assigns a non-negative size to all vectors in a vector space.
  9. (knitting) The number of stitches per inch, centimetre, or other unit of distance.
  10. (nautical) 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.
  11. (nautical) The depth to which a vessel sinks in the water.
  12. (plastering) The quantity of plaster of Paris used with common plaster to make it set more quickly.
  13. 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.
  14. (firearms) 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.
  15. (US, slang, by extension) A shotgun (synecdoche for 12 gauge shotgun, the most common chambering for combat and hunting shotguns).
  1. A tunnel-like ear piercing consisting of a hollow ring embedded in the lobe.
    Synonym: ear gauge
  1. (slang, uncountable) Cannabis.

a measure; a standard of measure; an instrument to determine dimensions, distance, or capacity; a standard

any instrument for ascertaining or regulating the level, state, dimensions or forms of things; as, a rain gauge; a steam gauge

gauge (third-person singular simple present gauges, present participle gauging, simple past and past participle gauged)

  1. (transitive) To measure or determine with a gauge; to measure the capacity of.
  2. (transitive) To estimate.
  3. (transitive) To appraise the character or ability of; to judge of.
  4. (textile, transitive) To draw into equidistant gathers by running a thread through it.
  5. (transitive) To mix (a quantity of ordinary plaster) with a quantity of plaster of Paris.
  6. (transitive) To chip, hew or polish (stones, bricks, etc) to a standard size and/or shape.

measure

to chip to standard shape

From Old Northern French gauge, from Frankish *galga, from Proto-Germanic *galgô. Doublet of galwes.

gauge

  1. A customary measurement or scale.

gauge oblique singular, f (oblique plural gauges, nominative singular **gauge, nominative plural gauges)

  1. alternative form of jauge