gauge (AmE spelling also gage) // noun, verb

■ noun

1 [usually sing.]

a fact or an event that can be used to estimate or judge sth:

The retail sector is closely watched as a key gauge of consumer spending.

Question-and-answer interviews may not be a good gauge of a candidate's abilities.

2 [C]

a system that is used to calculate or measure the level, size, etc. of sth:

the consumer price index, the main US inflation gauge

The major market gauges (= that measure average share prices, etc.) rose on Friday as investors bought up undervalued shares.

3 [C] (often used in compounds)

an instrument for measuring the amount or level of sth:

a fuel/petrol/temperature gauge

■ verb [+ obj]

1

to estimate or measure the level, size, etc. of sth:

We rely on previous sales figures to gauge demand.

gauging the strength of the economy

The growth of service industries is hard to gauge accurately.

There are now mountains of metrics used to gauge companies' performance.

2

to make a judgement about sb/sth:

It's too early to gauge whether the scheme was a success.

The views of the directors on the merger are still difficult to gauge.

3 (Technical )

to measure sth accurately using a special instrument:

precision instruments that can gauge the diameter to a fraction of a millimetre

• publicist
• publicity
• publicity stunt
• publicize
• public law
• public liability
• public limited company
• publicly-held
• publicly traded
• public offering
• public-private
• public-private partnership
• public relations
• public sale
• public sector
• public sector borrowing requirement
• public servant
• public service
• public service vehicle
• public spending
• public transport
• public warehouse
• public works
• publish
• publisher