gouge

 
Pronunciation: /gaʊdʒ, guːdʒ/

noun

  • 1a chisel with a concave blade, used in carpentry, sculpture, and surgery.
  • 2an indentation or groove made by gouging.

verb

[with object]
  • 1make (a groove, hole, or indentation) with or as if with a gouge: the channel had been gouged out by the ebbing water
  • make a rough hole or indentation in (a surface), especially so as to mar or disfigure it: he had wielded the blade inexpertly, gouging the grass in several places
  • (gouge something out) cut or force something out roughly or brutally: one of the young man’s eyes had been gouged out
  • [no object] Australian dig for minerals, especially opal: he was gouging for ore
  • 2North American informal overcharge or swindle (someone): drugs sold by the same manufacturers who are gouging patients in this country
  • (gouge something out) obtain money by swindling or extortion: he’d gouged wads out of Morty

Derivatives

gouger

noun

Origin:

late Middle English: from Old French, from late Latin gubia, gulbia, perhaps of Celtic origin; compare with Old Irish gulba 'beak' and Welsh gylf 'beak, pointed instrument'