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Gauge (Standard of measurement)

a standard of measurement.

As applied to railways, gauge signifies the distance between the centers of each pair of rails, which in the ordinary or narrow gauge is 4 feet 81½ inches. The broad gauge of the Great Western Railway of England was formerly 7 feet; the Irish, Indian, and Spanish gauge is 5 feet 6 inches. Special narrow gauges have recently been adopted for mountain and mineral lines, such as the 3 feet 6 inch gauge of the Norwegian lines.

Gauge is also the name applied to various contrivances for measuring any special dimension, such as the wire gauge, an oblong plate of steel, with notches of different widths cut on the edge, and numbered, the size of the wire being determined by trying it in the different notches till one is found which it exactly fits. The thickness of sheet metal is tried by a similar gauge.