gauge
pronunciation
How to pronounce gauge in British English:
UK [ɡeɪdʒ]
How to pronounce gauge in American English:
US [ɡeɪdʒ]
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- Noun:
- a measuring instrument for measuring and indicating a quantity such as the thickness of wire or the amount of rain etc.
- accepted or approved instance or example of a quantity or quality against which others are judged or measured or compared
- the distance between the rails of a railway or between the wheels of a train
- the thickness of wire
- diameter of a tube or gun barrel
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- Verb:
- judge tentatively or form an estimate of (quantities or time)
- rub to a uniform size
- determine the capacity, volume, or contents of by measurement and calculation
- measure precisely and against a standard
- adapt to a specified measurement
- mix in specific proportions
Word Origin
- gauge
- gauge: see engage
- gauge (v.)
- "ascertain by exact measurements," mid-15c., from Anglo-French gauge (mid-14c.), from Old North French gauger "standardize, calibrate, measure" (Old French jaugier), from gauge "gauging rod," a word of unknown origin. Perhaps from Frankish *galgo "rod, pole for measuring" or another Germanic source (compare Old Norse gelgja "pole, perch," Old High German galgo; see gallows). Related: Gauged; gauging. The figurative use is from 1580s. "The spelling variants gauge and gage have existed since the first recorded uses in Middle English, though in American English gage is found exclusively in technical uses" [Barnhart].
- gauge (n.)
- early 15c., "fixed standard of measure" (surname Gageman is early 14c.), from Old North French gauge "gauging rod" (see gauge (v.)). Meaning "instrument for measuring" is from 1670s; meaning "distance between rails on a railway" is from 1841. Railway-gage, the distance between perpendiculars on the insides of the heads of the two rails of a track. Standard gage is 4 feet 8 1/2 inches; anything less than this is narrow gage; anything broader is broad gage. The dimension was fixed for the United States by the wheels of the British locomotive imported from the Stephenson Works in 1829. [Century Dictionary]
Example
- 1. Interviewers may try to gauge your flexibility by asking indirect questions .
- 2. Advertisers , meanwhile , are trying gauge their own performance on facebook .
- 3. The best gauge of quake risk is the geologic record .
- 4. Patents are the most widely used yardstick , but they are an imperfect gauge of innovation at best .
- 5. Wages , a good gauge of labour demand , are growing sluggishly .