<p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li>(used with object)</li><li>gauged</li><li>gauging</li><li>to determine the exact dimensions, capacity, quantity, or force of; measure.</li><li>to appraise, estimate, or judge.</li><li>to make conformable to a standard.</li><li>to mark or measure off; delineate.</li><li>to gradually stretch (a pierced body part, such as the earlobe) by wearing increasingly large objects in the opening: I started gauging my ears recently and am having them stretched every two weeks.</li><li>to prepare or mix (plaster) with a definite proportion of plaster of Paris and mortar.</li><li>to chip or rub (bricks or stones) to a uniform size or shape.</li></ul><p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>a standard of measure or measurement.</li><li>a standard dimension, size, or quantity.</li><li>any device or instrument for measuring, registering measurements, or testing something, especially for measuring a dimension, quantity, or mechanical accuracy: pressure gauge; marking gauge.</li><li>a means of estimating or judging; criterion; test.</li><li>extent; scope; capacity: trying to determine the gauge of his own strength.</li><li>a plug, stud, or other piece of jewelry worn in a pierced body part in order to stretch it: He had a silver and black gauge in his ear, centered in the elongated lobe.</li><li>a standard size of such a piercing or piece of jewelry, in a system in which a lower number indicates a larger diameter (often used in combination): I recently went from a 10-gauge to an 8-gauge tongue piercing.</li><li>Ordnance: a unit of measure of the internal diameter of a shotgun barrel, determined by the number of spherical lead bullets of a diameter equal to that of the bore that are required to make one pound: a twelve-gauge shotgun.</li><li>Railroads: the distance between the inner edges of the heads of the rails in a track, usually 4 feet 8.5 inches (1.4 meters) standard gauge, but sometimes more broad gauge and sometimes less narrow gauge.</li><li>the distance between a pair of wheels on an axle.</li><li>the thickness or diameter of various, usually thin, objects, as the thickness of sheet metal or the diameter of a wire or screw.</li><li>the fineness of a knitted fabric as expressed in loops per every 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters): 15 denier, 60 gauge stockings.</li><li>Nautical: the position of one vessel as being to the windward weather gauge or to the leeward lee gauge of another vessel on an approximately parallel course.</li><li>Building Trades: the portion of the length of a slate, tile, etc., left exposed when laid in place.</li><li>the amount of plaster of Paris mixed with mortar or common plaster to hasten the set.</li></ul>