Gouges

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈɡaʊd͡ʒəz/

Definitions

1. A deep groove or cut on a surface created typically by a tool might also represent the act of removing material from an object, and such a process may lead to both the formation and the impression left in the material
2. The term can indicate a significant cut or an impression left on a surface while also describing the action of removing material to fashion a cavity or groove, thereby producing an indent
3. A long, narrow cut produced by carving or scraping ; the process of carving out a section by scraping to create a hollow or indentation ; the action of unfairly taking advantage of someone financially or otherwise

Etymology: The tool for gouging is older than the word for it: "gouge" began as the name of a chisel with a concave blade, and the tool is still the thing you picture when you see one. The name came into Middle English from Old French "gouge" or "goi," which traced back to Late Latin "gubia" and "gulbia," meaning a chisel or piercer. Those Latin forms were borrowed from Gaulish, the Celtic language spoken in Gaul, where the word meant "beak" or "bill." A chisel was named after a bird's beak, and that image of a sharp, curved point is what the word carried with it. The verb came later, formed from the noun, so that to gouge became to cut out a hollow with such a tool. The sense of a deep narrow cut, the plural form you asked about, grew naturally from that same act of scooping into a surface. Related words survive across the Celtic languages, including Welsh "gylf" (beak) and Scottish Gaelic "gilb" (chisel), which is a useful clue to where the word began.

Synonyms: scoops, chisel marks, indentations