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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.


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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of wire gauge

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

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

Fortunately, however, so far as magnet wire is concerned, the so-called Brown and Sharpe, or American, wire gauge is almost universally employed in this country.

From Cyclopedia of Telephony & Telegraphy Vol. 1 A General Reference Work on Telephony, etc. etc. by Miller, Kempster

And that meant light and intermittent pressures on the number 43 wire gauge drill—the one that's the right size to drill out a 4-40.

From The Trouble with Telstar by Schoenherr, John

To make this, procure some brass wire, gauge No. 8 or 9.

From Practical Taxidermy A manual of instruction to the amateur in collecting, preserving, and setting up natural history specimens of all kinds. To which is added a chapter upon the pictorial arrangement of museums. With additional instructions in modelling and artistic taxidermy. by Browne, Montagu

Since, however, Mr. Stubs has also a wire-gauge of his own, whose numbers and gauge-sizes do not correspond to those of the Birmingham gauge, the two Stubs gauges are sometimes confounded.

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

Below is given the Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company’s music wire-gauge.

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

Thus, in the following table are given the gauge-numbers and their respective sizes in decimal parts of an inch, as determined by Holtzapffel in 1843, and to which sizes the Birmingham wire-gauge is made.

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

This gauge is sometimes termed the Stubs wire-gauge, Mr. Stubs being a manufacturer of instruments whose notches are spaced according to the Birmingham wire-gauge.

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

A comparison between the Brown and Sharpe and the Birmingham wire-gauge is shown in Fig.

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

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