gauge
part of speech
noun (a gauge, gauges); verb (gauge, gauges, gauged, gauging)
meaning for a pupil
1) An instrument that measures and shows an amount, like a fuel gauge, a pressure gauge or a rain gauge. tree →
2) (verb) To measure something exactly. tree →
3) (verb) To judge or guess something, like a person's mood or how far something is. tree →
4) The width or thickness of something, like the distance between railway tracks or the thickness of wire. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science: a rain gauge collects rain to measure how many millimetres fell; a tyre pressure gauge shows the air in a tyre. In maths and science lessons you read the scale on a gauge carefully. Everyday: «gauge how someone feels». Phrases: «fuel gauge», «rain gauge», «tyre gauge», «gauge the distance».
examples
- We made a rain gauge from a plastic bottle. tree →
- The fuel gauge shows the tank is nearly empty. tree →
- Dad checked the tyres with a pressure gauge. tree →
- It's hard to gauge how deep the water is. tree →
- She tried to gauge if her teacher was cross. tree →
- The toy train runs on narrow-gauge tracks. tree →
- Read the gauge to the nearest mark on the scale. tree →
note
Tricky spelling: g-a-u-g-e, said like «gage» (rhymes with page). Not «guage» — a common mistake. American English sometimes spells it «gage» in technical use. Verb: gauged, gauging.
In the corpora
- Tsunami warning centres use earthquake sensors and pressure gauges on the sea floor to warn coasts.
- Rainfall is measured with a rain gauge in millimetres.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «gauge» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.