gouger

UK: /ˈɡaʊdʒə/

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

gouger / ˈɡaʊdʒə/ noun

1. a person or tool that gouges
2. a low-class city lout

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

gouge /gaʊdʒ/   v., gouged, goug•ing. 

1. Building to scoop out or turn with or as if with a pointed tool or object:
   [~ + object] He gouged a hole in the rock with his chisel.
2. to dig or force out with or as if with a pointed object or tool: [~ + out + object]
   He threatened to gouge out my eye.
   [~ + object + out]
   He threatened to gouge my eye out.
3. to make a hole in (something) with or as if with a pointed object or tool:
   [~ + object] The bullet fragments gouged his leg.
4. to overcharge (someone) illegally or dishonestly:
   [~ + object] They were gouging their customers in that store.

goug•er, n. [countable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

gouge  (gouj), n., v., gouged, goug•ing. 
n. 

1. Building a chisel having a partly cylindrical blade with the bevel on either the concave or the convex side.
2. Building an act of gouging.
3. Building a groove or hole made by gouging.
4. an act of extortion;
   swindle.
5. Geology
   • a layer of decomposed rocks or minerals found along the walls of a vein.
   • fragments of rock that have accumulated between or along the walls of a fault.

v.t. 

6. Building to scoop out or turn with or as if with a gouge:
   to gouge a channel; to gouge holes.
7. Building to dig or force out with or as if with a gouge:
   to gouge out an eye.
8. to make a gouge in:
   to gouge one's leg.
9. to extort from, swindle, or overcharge.

v.i. 

10. to engage in swindling, overcharging, or the like:
    I bought my clothes there before they began gouging.

• Celtic; compare Old Irish gulba sting, Welsh gylf beak, Cornish gilb borer
• Late Latin gu(l)bia; compare Old Provencal goja, Spanish gubia; perh.
• French
• Middle English 1300–50

goug′er, n.