From Middle English gauge, gaugen, from Anglo-Norman -, fro-nor - gauger (compare Modern French jauger from Old French jaugier), from gauge ("gauging rod"), from Frankish *galga, from Proto-Germanic *galgô, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰalgʰ-, *ǵʰalg- ("perch, long switch").

• enPR: gāj, IPA: /ˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/

gauge

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

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) Ellipsis of track gauge
7. (rail) Ellipsis of loading gauge
8. (mathematics, 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).
16. A tunnel-like ear piercing consisting of a hollow ring embedded in the lobe.

    Synonyms: 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 […]

17. (slang, uncountable) Cannabis.
    • 2000, Cynthia Palmer, Michael Horowitz, Sisters of the Extreme:

      When we settled, he said, “You've been smoking gauge, haven't you?”

• French: gabarit
• German: Meter, Messgerät, Maß
• Italian: calibro, unità di misura, strumento di misura
• Portuguese: medida, medição
• Russian: ме́ра
• Spanish: medida, patrón

• French: étalon
• German: Messgerät, Meter
• Italian: calibro
• Portuguese: medidor
• Russian: измерительный прибор
• Spanish: medidor, galga

• German: Maß
• Italian: seminorma
• Portuguese: calibre
• Russian: ме́ра

gauge (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.
   • 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.

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.

• French: mesurer
• German: messen
• Portuguese: medir
• Russian: измеря́ть
• Spanish: medir

• French: estimer, jauger
• Russian: оце́нивать

1. A male given name