Meaning

noun a measuring instrument for measuring and indicating a quantity such as the thickness of wire or the amount of rain etc.

noun accepted or approved instance or example of a quantity or quality against which others are judged or measured or compared

noun the distance between the rails of a railway or between the wheels of a train

originFrom Middle English gauge, gaugen, from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French gauger (compare Modern French jauger from Old French jaugier), from gauge (“gauging rod”), from Frankish *galga (“measuring rod, pole”), from Proto-Germanic *galgô (“pole, stake, cross”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰalgʰ-, *ǵʰalg- (“perch, long switch”). Cognate with Old High German galgo, Old Frisian galga, Old English…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0