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• wire gauge
  wire gauge

  noun

  a gauge calibrated for determining the diameter of wire.
• wire-gauge
  wire-gauge

  noun

  a flat plate with slots in which standard wire sizes can be measured

wire gauge

American  

noun

1. a gauge calibrated for determining the diameter of wire.

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wire-gauge British  

noun

1. a flat plate with slots in which standard wire sizes can be measured

2. a standard system of sizes for measuring the diameters of wires

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Etymology

Origin of wire gauge

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

A wire’s size is referred to as the wire gauge.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 30, 2021

And fences must meet strict criteria on height, wire gauge and post spacing.

From Washington Times • Nov. 23, 2015

The thicknesses of circular saws is designated in terms of the Birmingham wire gauge, whose numbers and thicknesses are shown in Fig.

From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Rose, Joshua

Wire gauze, made of wire the thickness of 22 iron wire gauge, 20 wires to the linear inch, and tinned after weaving, has an area in the holes of ¼ its surface.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 430, March 29, 1884 by Various

Very thin wire--i.e. above No. 20 on the Birmingham wire gauge — does not do, for it gets burned through, and perhaps allows the work to fall apart at a critical moment.

From On Laboratory Arts by Threlfall, Richard