# 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
** (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA: /ˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/
*** Audio (California):(file)
** (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA: /ˈɡæɪd͡ʒ/
* 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.
* 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.
* (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.
* (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, performed by Dr. Dre, Death Row Records: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?”

#### Derived terms

* 1 gauge
* 2 gauge
* alarm gauge
* American gauge
* American wire gauge
* Birmingham gauge
* Birmingham wire gauge
* break of gauge
* break-of-gauge station
* broad-gauge
* broad gauge
* Coulomb gauge
* cream gauge
* crusher gauge
* depth gauge
* dial gauge
* downgauge
* feeler gauge
* Freycinet gauge
* fuel gauge
* gas gauge
* gauge block
* gauge boson
* gauge cock
* gauge field
* gauge ghost
* gauge glass
* gaugelike
* gaugeon
* gauge pressure
* gauge-restricted
* gauge theory
* gaugino
* gyrogauge
* Johansson gauge
* lattice gauge theory
* lee gauge
* line gauge
* liquor gauge
* loading gauge
* Lorentz gauge
* Lorenz gauge
* marking gauge
* McLeod gauge
* metre-gauge
* metre gauge, meter gauge
* mixed gauge
* multigauge
* narrow gauge
* narrow-gauge
* out of 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
* stream gauge
* supergauge
* tide gauge
* tire gauge
* tire-pressure gauge
* tyre gauge
* tyre-pressure gauge
* vacuum gauge
* varigauge
* water gauge
* weather gauge
* Weyl gauge
* wind gauge

#### Translations
### 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, [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.

#### Derived terms

* gaugeable
* misgauge
* regauge
* ungauged

#### Translations
### See also

* gage
* gouge

### References

* “gauge”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* gage

### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɡau̯d͡ʒ(ə)/, /ˈɡaːd͡ʒ(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 oblique singular, f (oblique plural gauges, nominative singular gauge, nominative plural gauges)
* Alternative form of jauge