gouge

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Dictionary: gouge (gouj) pronunciation

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gouge

left to right: hollow, parting, and fluting gouges
(Academy Artworks)

A chisel with a rounded, troughlike blade.
1. A scooping or digging action, as with such a chisel.
2. A groove or hole scooped with or as if with such a chisel.
Informal. A large amount, as of money, exacted or extorted.

tr.v., gouged, goug·ing, goug·es.

To cut or scoop out with or as if with a gouge: “He began to gouge a small pattern in the sand with his cane” (Vladimir Nabokov).
1. To force out the eye of (a person) with one's thumb.
2. To thrust one's thumb into the eye of.
Informal. To extort from.
Slang. To swindle.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin gubia, variant of gulbia, of Celtic origin.]

gouger goug'er n.

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Thesaurus: gouge

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verb

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Architecture: gouge

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1. A chisel with a longitudinal curved blade, used to cut holes, channels, or grooves in wood or stone.
2. A form of wear in resilient floor coverings which is accompanied by removal of material and penetration considerably below the immediate floor surface.

Veterinary Dictionary: gouge

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A hollow chisel for cutting and removing bone. See also alexander gouge.

Wikipedia: Gouge

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For the unconsolidated sediment formed by rock shearing in fault zones, see Fault gouge and Shale Gouge Ratio.

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Look up gouge in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Gouge refers to one of several types of cutting tools, in addition to its meaning as a verb (the action of cutting or scooping with or as with a gouge) and its slang meaning (to cheat, defraud, swindle or extort) and, rarely, as a noun meaning a swindle (gouger).

1 In Antiquity
2 Modern tools
3 In martial arts
4 U.S. Navy Slang
5 See also

In Antiquity

In archeology, a gouge is a bifacial or unifacial stone tool with a chisel-like working edge used for woodworking purposes; some may also have been used to remove marrow from bones. Gouges are generally triangular in shape, with the working edge—characteristically steep-angled—appearing at the wide base of the triangle. opposite edge, at the point of the triangle, was the hafted end; the tool itself was generally hafted at right angles to the handle.

Modern tools

A modern gouge is a tool similar to a chisel except its blade edge is not flat, but instead is curved or angled in cross-section. The modern version is generally hafted inline, the blade and handle typically having the same long axis. If the angle of the plane of the blade is on the outer surface of the curve the gouge is called an 'incannel' gouge, otherwise it is known as an 'outcannel' gouge. Gouges with angled rather than curved blades are often called 'V-gouges' or 'vee-parting tools'. Variations include 'crank-neck' gouges, 'spoon-bent' gouges, etc. Gouges are used in wood working and arts. For example, a violin luthier will use a gouge to carve the violin, a craftsmen may use it to scoop out wood for a project, or an artist may produce a piece of art by cutting some bits out of a sheet of linoleum (see also Linocut).

In martial arts

In martial arts or other hand-to-hand combat application, to gouge refers to the act of pulling or pressing certain sensitive areas on the opponent's body, typically using the fingers, but also sometimes with other bodyparts or instruments. Gouging can be accidental, or it can be used as a potent self-defense technique. The most typical types of gouging are fish-hooking and eye-gouging, but this also includes pressing or twisting of other sensitive points on the neck, face, and limbs.

U.S. Navy Slang

In U.S. Navy jargon, gouge is --

the essential piece of information, the heart of the matter;
a crib sheet or other condensed summary of useful information;
outstanding test-preparation material such as an old test copy.

A person who is tired of hearing all the extraneous information surrounding a problem might exclaim "Just give me the gouge!"

Originated at the U.S. Naval Academy and introduced from there into the wider navy, where it sees less frequent usage.

		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved. Read more
		Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Gouge". Read more
		Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more

	gouge slip, oilstone slip, slipstone
	turning gouge
	wood-carving tools (design engineering)

gouge

Contents

In Antiquity

Modern tools

In martial arts

U.S. Navy Slang

See also