gouges

Noun

gouge (countable and uncountable, plural gouges)

1. A chisel with a curved blade for cutting or scooping channels, grooves, or holes in wood, stone, etc.
   • The "steeple" was a little cupola, reared on the very centre of the roof, on four tall pillars of pine, that were fluted with a gouge, and loaded with mouldings.1823, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter VIII, in The Pioneers, or The Sources of the Susquehanna; […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Charles Wiley; […], →OCLC, page 118
2. A bookbinder's tool with a curved face, used for blind tooling or gilding.
   • In plate II. are design for two backs of books. The first figure, which presents an appearance of exceeding richness, is executed with one sole tool, viz. No. 10, and a small gouge for the sides of the lettering-piece.1835, John Andrews Arnett [pseudonym; John Hannett], “Combination of Tools”, in Bibliopegia; or, The Art of Bookbinding, in All Its Branches. […], London: Richard Groombridge; Edinburgh: Oliver and...
3. An incising tool that cuts blanks or forms for envelopes, gloves, etc., from leather, paper, or other materials.
   • Gouge. […] A shaped incising-tool used for cutting out forms or blanks for gloves, envelopes, or other objects cut to a shape from fabric, leather, or paper.[1875, Edward H[enry] Knight, “Gouge”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary: […], volumes II (Ena–Pan), New York, N.Y.: J. B. Ford and Company, →OCLC, page 997, column 1
4. A cut or groove, as left by a gouge or something sharp.
   • The nail left a deep gouge in the tire.
5. (colloquial) An act of gouging.
6. (slang) A cheat, a fraud; an imposition.

   Synonyms:

   swindle

See all 14 meanings of gouge