gauge
See also: Gauge
English
Alternative forms
- gage
Etymology
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.
Pronunciation
- enPR: gāj, IPA(key): /ˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪdʒ
- Homophone: gage
Noun
gauge (countable and uncountable, plural gauges)
- 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, number 25:
- The record of philosophy vis-à-vis silence is generally dismal, as good a gauge as any to its overall failure.
- 1780, Edmund Burke, speech at The Guildhall, in Bristol
- 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.
- (rail transport) Ellipsis of track gauge.
- (rail transport) Ellipsis of loading gauge.
- (mathematics, mathematical analysis) A semi-norm; a function that assigns a non-negative size to all vectors in a vector space.
- (knitting) The number of stitches per inch, centimetre, or other unit of distance.
- (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.
- (nautical) The depth to which a vessel sinks in the water.
- (plastering) 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.
- (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.
- (US, slang, by extension) A shotgun (synecdoche for 12 gauge shotgun, the most common chambering for combat and hunting shotguns).
- 1992, “A Nigga Witta Gun”, in The Chronic, Death Row Records, performed by Dr. Dre:
- I'm talking about cocking a gauge in between your eyes.
- 1996, “Illusions”, in Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom, performed by Cypress Hill:
- I'm tryin to find ways to cope / But I ain't fuckin' round with the gauge or a rope
- 2000, “Grab The Gauge”, in Underground Vol. 3: Kings of Memphis, performed by Three 6 Mafia:
- 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
-
- A tunnel-like ear piercing consisting of a hollow ring embedded in the lobe.
- Synonym: ear gauge
- 2013, Destiny Patterson, Samantha Beckworth, Jennifer Proctor, Arose (page 150)
- 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 […]
- (slang, uncountable) Cannabis.
- 1971, Black Creation (volumes 3-6, page 53)
- […] 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. […]
- 2000, Cynthia Palmer, Michael Horowitz, Sisters of the Extreme
- When we settled, he said, “You've been smoking gauge, haven't you?”
- 1971, Black Creation (volumes 3-6, page 53)
Derived terms
Terms derived from gauge (noun)
- 1 gauge
- 2 gauge
- alarm gauge
- American wire gauge
- break of gauge
- break-of-gauge station
- broad-gauge
- broad gauge
- Coulomb gauge
- cream gauge
- crusher gauge
- dial gauge
- feeler gauge
- Freycinet gauge
- fuel gauge
- gas gauge
- gauge block
- gauge boson
- gauge cock
- gauge field
- gauge ghost
- gauge glass
- gauge pressure
- gauge-restricted
- gauge theory
- Johansson gauge
- lattice gauge theory
- lee gauge
- liquor gauge
- loading gauge
- Lorentz gauge
- marking gauge
- McLeod gauge
- metre-gauge
- metre gauge, meter gauge
- mixed gauge
- narrow gauge
- narrow-gauge
- paper gauge
- pear gauge
- Penning gauge
- perforation gauge
- Pirani gauge
- pressure gauge
- quantum gauge theory
- rail gauge
- rain gauge
- ring gauge
- rubber gauge
- Russian gauge
- standard gauge
- star gauge
- steam gauge
- strain gauge
- tide gauge
- tire gauge
- tire-pressure gauge
- tyre gauge
- tyre-pressure gauge
- vacuum gauge
- water gauge
- weather gauge
- Weyl gauge
- wind gauge
Translations
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
|
track gauge — see track gauge
loading gauge — see loading gauge
a semi-norm; a function that assigns a non-negative size to all vectors in a vector space
|
Verb
gauge (third-person singular simple present gauges, present participle gauging, simple past and past participle gauged)
- (transitive) To measure or determine with a gauge; to measure the capacity of.
- (transitive) To estimate.
- (transitive) To appraise the character or ability of; to judge of.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene ii]:
- You shall not gauge me / By what we do to-night.
-
- (textile, transitive) To draw into equidistant gathers by running a thread through it.
- (transitive) To mix (a quantity of ordinary plaster) with a quantity of plaster of Paris.
- (transitive) To chip, hew or polish (stones, bricks, etc) to a standard size and/or shape.
Translations
measure
|
to appraise the character of
|
to chip to standard shape
|
See also
- gage
- gouge
References
- gauge in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
Middle English
Alternative forms
- gage
Etymology
From Old Northern French gauge, from Frankish *galga, from Proto-Germanic *galgô. Doublet of galwes.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡau̯dʒ(ə)/, /ˈɡaːdʒ(ə)/
Noun
gauge
- A customary measurement or scale.
Related terms
- gaugen
- gauger
Descendants
- English: gauge
- Scots: gauge
References
- “gauǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-22.
Old French
Noun
gauge f (oblique plural gauges, nominative singular gauge, nominative plural gauges)
- Alternative form of jauge