gougea chisel with a rounded blade; a digging or scooping action: to gouge a channel; to gouge holesNot to be confused with:gage ? a security or a pledge; something, as a glove, thrown down as a challenge to fight: The knight threw down his gage.; a variety of plum, as a greengagegauge ? a measuring device; to test; a size: twelve-gauge shotguns; the fineness of knitted fabric: sixty-gauge stockingsAbused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embreegougeleft to right: hollow, parting, and fluting gougesgouge (gouj)n.1. A chisel with a blade that has a rounded, angled, or troughlike indentation along its length.2. a. A scooping or digging action, as with such a chisel.b. A groove or hole scooped with or as if with such a chisel.3. Informal A large amount, as of money, exacted or extorted.tr.v. gouged, goug·ing, goug·es 1. 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).2. a. To force out the eye of (a person) with one’s thumb.b. To thrust one’s thumb into the eye of.3. Informal To extort from.4. Slang To swindle.[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin gubia, variant of gulbia, of Celtic origin.]goug?er n.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.gouge (?a?d?) vb (mainly tr) 1. (usually foll by out) to scoop or force (something) out of its position, esp with the fingers or a pointed instrument2. (sometimes foll by out) to cut (a hole or groove) in (something) with a sharp instrument or tool3. informal US and Canadian to extort from4. (Mining & Quarrying) (also intr) Austral to dig for (opal)n5. (Tools) a type of chisel with a blade that has a concavo-convex section6. a mark or groove made with, or as if with, a gouge7. (Geological Science) geology a fine deposit of rock fragments, esp clay, occurring between the walls of a fault or mineral vein8. informal US and Canadian extortion; swindling[C15: from French, from Late Latin gulbia a chisel, of Celtic origin]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014gouge (ga?d?) n., v. gouged, goug?ing. n. 1. a chisel having a partly cylindrical blade with the bevel on either the concave or the convex side. 2. an act of gouging. 3. a hole made by gouging. 4. an act of extortion; swindle. 5. a. a layer of decomposed rocks or minerals found along the walls of a vein. b. fragments of rock that have accumulated between or along the walls of a fault. v.t. 6. to scoop out or turn with or as if with a gouge. 7. to dig or force out with or as if with a gouge (often fol. by out). 8. to make a gouge in: to gouge one’s leg. 9. to extort from or overcharge. v.i. 10. to engage in extortion or swindling. [1300?50;