gauge

noun

/ɡeɪdʒ/

(US English also gage)

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(often in compounds) an instrument for measuring the amount or level of something
- a fuel/pressure/temperature gauge
Extra Examples
- The depth gauge tells you how deep you have dived.
- The fuel gauge was reading ‘empty’.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- accurate
- fuel
- gas
- …
verb + gauge
- check
- glance at
- look at
- …
gauge + verb
- indicate something
- read something
- show something
- …
See full entry
a measurement of how wide or thick something is
- What gauge of wire do we need?
(also bore especially in British English)
a measurement of how wide the barrel of a gun is
- a 12-gauge shotgun
the distance between the rails of a railway track or the wheels of a train
- standard gauge (= 56½ inches in Britain)
- a narrow gauge (= narrower than standard) railway
- At that time railways of three different gauges were in use.
see also narrow gaugeTopics Transport by bus and trainc2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- broad
- narrow
- standard
- …
See full entry
[usually singular] gauge (of something) a fact or an event that can be used to estimate or judge something
- Tomorrow's game against Arsenal will be a good gauge of their promotion chances.
Extra Examples
- In the USA anything that's good is worth a lot of money. That's your gauge.
- This company is seen as a gauge of Britain's industrial well-being.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- accurate
- good
- reliable
- …
verb + gauge
- be seen as
- serve as
preposition
- gauge of
See full entry

Word OriginMiddle English (denoting a standard measure): from Old French gauge (noun), gauger (verb), variant of Old Northern French jauge (noun), jauger (verb), of unknown origin.

gauge

verb

/ɡeɪdʒ/

(US English also gage)

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they gauge	/ɡeɪdʒ/ /ɡeɪdʒ/
he / she / it gauges	/ˈɡeɪdʒɪz/ /ˈɡeɪdʒɪz/
past simple gauged	/ɡeɪdʒd/ /ɡeɪdʒd/
past participle gauged	/ɡeɪdʒd/ /ɡeɪdʒd/
-ing form gauging	/ˈɡeɪdʒɪŋ/ /ˈɡeɪdʒɪŋ/

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to make a judgement about something, especially people’s feelings or attitudes
- gauge something They interviewed employees to gauge their reaction to the changes.
- He tried to gauge her mood.
- gauge whether, how, etc… It was difficult to gauge whether she was angry or not.
gauge something to measure something accurately using a special instrument
- precision instruments that can gauge the diameter to a fraction of a millimetre
to calculate something approximately
- gauge something We were able to gauge the strength of the wind from the movement of the trees.
- It is impossible to gauge the extent of the damage.
- gauge how, what, etc… It is difficult to gauge how much fuel is needed
Extra Examples
- Some of this can be gauged from existing data.
- It's always difficult to gauge how many people attend events like these.
- You should be able to gauge roughly how long a task will take.

Word OriginMiddle English (denoting a standard measure): from Old French gauge (noun), gauger (verb), variant of Old Northern French jauge (noun), jauger (verb), of unknown origin.