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gauge.

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

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡæɪd͡ʒ/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. A measure; a standard of measure; an instrument to determine dimensions, distance, or capacity; a standard

    countable · uncountable
  2. An act of measuring.

    countable · uncountable
  3. An estimate.

    countable · uncountable
  4. Any instrument for ascertaining or regulating the level, state, dimensions or forms of things

    countable · uncountable
  5. A thickness of sheet metal or wire designated by any of several numbering schemes, with lower numbers indicating larger size.

    countable · uncountable
  6. Ellipsis of track gauge.

    abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis · uncountable
  7. Ellipsis of loading gauge.

    abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis · uncountable
  8. A semi-norm; a function that assigns a non-negative size to all vectors in a vector space.

    countable · uncountable
  9. The number of stitches per inch, centimetre, or other unit of distance.

    countable · uncountable
  10. Relative positions of two or more vessels with reference to the wind.

    countable · uncountable
    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. The depth to which a vessel sinks in the water.

    countable · uncountable
  12. The quantity of plaster of Paris used with common plaster to make it set more quickly.

    countable · uncountable
  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.

    countable · uncountable
  14. 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.

    countable · uncountable
  15. A shotgun (synecdoche for 12 gauge shotgun, the most common chambering for combat and hunting shotguns).

    US · broadly · countable · slang · uncountable
  16. A tunnel-like ear piercing consisting of a hollow ring embedded in the lobe.

    countable · uncountable
  17. Cannabis.

    slang · uncountable
Where this word 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.

verb/ˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡæɪd͡ʒ/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. To measure or determine with a gauge; to measure the capacity of.

    transitive
  2. To estimate.

    transitive
  3. To appraise the character or ability of; to judge of.

    transitive
  4. To draw into equidistant gathers by running a thread through it.

    transitive
  5. To mix (a quantity of ordinary plaster) with a quantity of plaster of Paris.

    transitive
  6. To chip, hew or polish (stones, bricks, etc) to a standard size and/or shape.

    transitive
Where this word 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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.