n. A pledge or pawn; a movable chattel laid down or given as security for the performance of some act or the fulfilment of some condition.n. The act of pledging, or the state of being pledged; pawn; security.n. Anything thrown down as a token of challenge to combat; hence, challenge.To pledge, pawn, or stake; give or deposit as a gage or security; wage or wager.To bind by pledge, caution, or security; engage.To measure the content or capacity of, as a vessel; more generally, to ascertain by test or measurement the capacity, dimensions, proportions, quantity, amount, or force of; measure or ascertain by measurement: as, to gage a barrel or other receptacle (see gaging); to gage the pressure of steam, or the force of the wind; to gage a stone for cutting it to the proper size.To measure in respect to capability, power, character, or behavior; take cognizance of the capacity, capability, or power of; appraise; estimate: as, to gage a person's character very accurately.In needlework, especially dressmaking, to pucker in parallel rows by means of gathering-threads, either for ornament or to hold the material firmly in place.n. A standard of measure; an instrument for determining the dimensions, capacity, quantity, force, etc., of anything; hence, any standard of comparison or estimation; measure in general: as, a gage for the thickness of wires; to take the gage of a man's ability.n. Specifically— In the air-pump, an instrument of various forms for indicating the degree of exhaustion in the receiver. The kind most commonly used is the siphon-gage (which see, below).n. In joinery, an instrument for striking a line on a board, etc., parallel to its edge, consisting of a square rod with a marker near its end and an adjustable sliding piece for a guide.n. In printing, a measure of the length of a page, or a graduated strip of wood, metal, or cardboard for determining the number of lines of type of a certain size in a given space.n. In type-founding, a piece of hard wood or polished steel, variously notched, used to adjust the dimensions, slopes, etc., of the various sorts of letters.n. Same as grip, 7. (See also caliber-gage, center-gage, gaging-rod, pressure-gage, rain-gage, steam-gage, wind-gage, and phrases below.)n. A standard or determinate dimension, quantity, or amount; a fixed or standard measurement.n. Nautical: The depth to which a vessel sinks in the water.n. The position of a ship with reference to another vessel and to the wind. When to the windward she is said to have the weather-gage; when to the leeward, the lee-gage.n. A quart pot.n. An instrument for measuring the diameter of the bore of a cannon at any part of its length. It consists of a graduated brass tube having at one end a head from which radiate two fixed and two movable steel points. A slider in the graduated tube pushes outward the movable points as may be necessary.n. A name given to several varieties of plum: as, the green gage, golden gage, transparent gage, etc.To adjust the proper quantity of water to be used in mixing hydraulic cement.n. A pipeful of tobacco.