What does "gage" mean?
Something, such as a glove or other pledge, thrown down as a challenge to combat (now usually figurative).
Gage
/ɡeɪd͡ʒ/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Something, such as a glove or other pledge, thrown down as a challenge to combat (now usually figurative).
- Grammar: gage is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: gauge, acid, antidepressant, ataractic.
- Useful contrasts: release, unpledge, unsecured asset.
- Usage evidence: He says there is now no way they can gage the election's validity or contest the results.
How to use "gage"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "gage" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "gage" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "gage" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "gage" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "gage" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "gauge" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "gage", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Something, such as a glove or other pledge, thrown down as a challenge to combat (now usually figurative). transitive
"“But it is enough that I challenge the trial by combat — there lies my gage.” She took her embroidered glove from her hand, and flung it down before the Grand Master with an air of mingled simplicity and dignity…"
- 2 Alternative spelling of gauge. US, alt-of, alternative, transitive
- 3 A subspecies of plum, Prunus domestica subsp. italica. transitive
- 4 Marijuana dated, slang, transitive, uncountable
"Of course, I take a bang or some mud in coffee now and then, and I pick up on gage right smart."
- 5 Initialism of Georgetown Alliance of Graduate Employees. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 a measuring instrument for measuring and indicating a quantity such as the thickness of wire or the amount of rain etc. wordnet
- 7 Something valuable deposited as a guarantee or pledge; security, ransom. obsolete, transitive
"[I]t seemed to create a sort of material link between the Princess and himself, and at the end of three months it almost appeared to him, not that the exquisite book was an intended present from his own hand, but that it had been placed in that hand by the most remarkable woman in Europe.... [T]he superior piece of work he had done after seeing her last, in the immediate heat of his emotion, turned into a kind of proof and gage, as if a ghost, in vanishing from sight, had left a palpable relic."
- 8 A pint pot. UK, archaic, countable, slang, transitive, uncountable
- 9 street names for marijuana wordnet
- 10 A drink. UK, archaic, countable, metonymically, slang, transitive, uncountable
- 11 A tobacco pipe. UK, archaic, countable, slang, transitive, uncountable
"Troll us a stave, my antediluvian file, and in the mean time tip me a gage of fogus, Jerry"
- 12 A chamber pot. UK, archaic, countable, slang, transitive, uncountable
- 13 A small quantity of anything. UK, archaic, countable, slang, transitive, uncountable
"GAGE, a small quantity of anything; as “a gage of tobacco,” meaning a. pipeful; “a gage of gin,” a glassful."
- 14 A quart pot. UK, countable, obsolete, transitive, uncountable
"I bowse no lage, but a whole gage / Of this I'll bowse to you."
Verb
- 1 To bind (someone) by pledge or security; to engage. transitive
"Great debts / Wherein my time, sometimes too prodigal, / Hath left me gaged."
- 2 Alternative spelling of gauge. US, alt-of, alternative, transitive
- 3 place a bet on wordnet
- 4 To bet or wager (something). archaic, transitive
"O doe not goe, this feaſt (I'le gage my life) / Is but a plot to trayne you to your ruine, / Be rul'd, you ſha'not goe."
- 5 To deposit or give (something) as a pledge or security; to pawn. obsolete, transitive
"A moiety competent / Was gaged by our king."
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname originating as an occupation. countable, uncountable
- 2 A male given name transferred from the surname, of modern usage. countable, uncountable
- 3 A female given name. countable, uncountable
- 4 A place in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Ballard County, Kentucky. countable, uncountable
- 5 A place in the United States:; A ghost town in Luna County, New Mexico. countable, uncountable
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 A place in the United States:; A town in Ellis County, Oklahoma, named after Lyman J. Gage. countable, uncountable
- 7 A place in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Barbour County, West Virginia. countable, uncountable
Example
"He says there is now no way they can gage the election's validity or contest the results."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "gage"?
Common synonyms include: gauge, acid, antidepressant, ataractic, back, bail.
How do you use "gage" in a sentence?
He says there is now no way they can gage the election's validity or contest the results.
How do you pronounce "gage"?
Pronounced /ɡeɪd͡ʒ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English gage, from later Old French or early Middle French gager (verb), (also guagier in Old French) gage (noun), ultimately from Frankish *waddi, from Proto-Germanic *wadją (whence English wed). Doublet of wage, from the same origin through the Old Northern French variant wage. See also mortgage.
Etymology 2
See gauge.
Etymology 3
Back-formation from greengage.
Etymology 4
An occupational surname from Middle English gage, guage (“measure”) for an assayer, or gage (“pledge”) for a moneylender.