gauge

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a measuring instrument for measuring and indicating a quantity such as the thickness of wire or the amount of rain etc.
  2. noun accepted or approved instance or example of a quantity or quality against which others are judged or measured or compared
  3. noun the distance between the rails of a railway or between the wheels of a train

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

gage

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