Gouge

Gouge (adopted from the Fr. gouge, derived from the Late Lat. gubia or gulbia, in Ducange gulbium, an implement ad hortum excolendum, and also instrumentum ferreum in usu fabrorum; according to the New English Dictionary the word is probably of Celtic origin, gylf, a beak, appearing in Welsh, and gilb, a boring tool, in Cornish), a tool of the chisel type with a curved blade, used for scooping a groove or channel in wood, stone, &c. (see Tool). A similar instrument is used in surgery for operations involving the excision of portions of bone. “Gouge” is also used as the name of a bookbinder’s tool, for impressing a curved line on the leather, and for the line so impressed. In mining, a “gouge” is the layer of soft rock or earth sometimes found in each side of a vein of coal or ore, which the miner can scoop out with his pick, and thus attack the vein more easily from the side. The verb “to gouge” is used in the sense of scooping or forcing out.

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