Definition of "gouge" []

• A chisel with a rounded, troughlike blade. (noun)
• A scooping or digging action, as with such a chisel. (noun)
• A groove or hole scooped with or as if with such a chisel. (noun)
• Informal A large amount, as of money, exacted or extorted. (noun)
• To cut or scoop out with or as if with a gouge: "He began to gouge a small pattern in the sand with his cane” ( Vladimir Nabokov). (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "_I immediately declared in favour of "gouge" -- a decision for which Mr. Slumper, to whom victory is even more terrible than defeat, will thank me yet."
• "TUCHMAN: The city is imploring business people not to price gouge, which is happening in some cases."
• "There in the gouge was a length of pipe a few hundred feet in diameter."