26984 words

gauge

20 definitions • 29 examples
1

Examples:

Use a thermometer to gauge the temperature.
I tried to gauge (= guess) the weight of the box.
2
to make a judgment about something, usually people's feelings:

Examples:

A poll was conducted to gauge consumers' attitudes.
[ + question word ] It's difficult to gauge how they'll react.
3
to stretch a hole in your earlobe (= the soft flesh at the bottom of your ear) so you can put jewellery in it:

Examples:

Does it hurt to gauge your ears?
The young man had his ear piercings gauged so large he could probably fit golf balls through them.
4
a device for measuring the amount or size of something:

Examples:

5
a device used to measure the pressure of the air in a tyre:

Examples:

tyre gauge Do you have a tyre gauge in your car?
6
the distance between the rails (= the two long metal bars attached to the ground) on a railway line:

Examples:

narrow-gauge The trains run on narrow-gauge railways.
standard-gauge A standard-gauge tram network would provide comfortable services.
7
the thickness of something, especially metal or wire
8
the space inside a pipe or tube, or the diameter of (= measurement across) this space:

Examples:

a narrow gauge
a gauge of 16 millimetres
9
a way of judging or showing something, especially how successful or popular something is:

Examples:

gauge of The fact that the play is being performed on Broadway is a gauge of its success.
10
a hole in the earlobe (= the soft flesh at the bottom of your ear) that has been stretched to make it larger:

Examples:

What do you do if you want to reverse your ear gauges?
gauge earring We sell gauge earrings in silver, brass, wood, horn, and stone.
11
a piece of jewellery, often in the shape of a disc or ring, worn inside a hole in the earlobe that has been stretched to make it larger:

Examples:

You can get fake gauges if you don't fancy stretching.
Our ear gauges include beautiful glass plugs and black steel tunnels.
12
used in adjectives to express the width of the space inside a cylinder, especially the inside of a gun barrel (= part shaped like a tube):

Examples:

a twelve-gauge shotgun
13
to calculate an amount by using a measuring device or by your own judgment, or to make a judgment about people’s feelings:

Examples:

It was not easy to gauge his height from this distance, but he seemed pretty tall.
[ + question word ] It’s difficult to gauge how they’ll react when they hear the news.
14
a device for measuring the amount or size of something:

Examples:

She used a pressure gauge to measure the air pressure in her bicycle tires.
The test is simply a gauge of (= a way of judging) how well they will do in college.
15
A gauge is also a measure of the thickness of a wire or of the opening inside the barrel (= long part) of a gun:

Examples:

a 12-gauge shotgun
16
to make a judgment about something:

Examples:

What's the best way to gauge real levels of tax evasion?
gauge what/who/how sth It's not difficult to gauge how the markets will react to the latest fall in interest rates.
18
a way of measuring or understanding something, for example, people's opinions or a level of something:

Examples:

a gauge of sth Productivity is an important gauge of economic performance.
It's not easy to get any kind of accurate gauge of what young people think about this.
19
a method, set of calculations, etc. used to try to predict what will happen in the future:

Examples:

According to the government's economic forecasting gauge, inflation will fall by another 1% next year.
20
a piece of equipment for measuring the amount or size of something:

Examples:

a fuel gauge

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