Definition

1. Verb (transitive):
   • To remove or form by cutting, digging, or scooping with force, often leaving a rough, deep, or hollow mark. This action implies using a tool, an object, or a part of the body to forcefully excavate material from a surface, creating a cavity or groove.

Usage

• The verb "gouge out" is used with a direct object (the thing being hollowed or marked) and often an indirect object or prepositional phrase indicating the source.
• It describes a violent, damaging, or forceful action of removal.
• Common structures: "to gouge out [something]" or "to gouge [something] out of [a surface/material]".

Examples

• Literal, Physical Action:
  • The carpenter used a chisel to gouge out a channel for the wiring.
  • The explosion gouged out a huge crater in the field.
  • He threatened to gouge his opponent's eyes out.
• Figurative Use (forceful removal or creation):
  • The new tax policy seems designed to gouge out every last penny from the middle class.
  • Years of erosion had gouged out a deep canyon in the landscape.

Advanced Usage

• "to have one's eyes gouged out": A common, albeit extreme, metaphorical threat or description of violence, emphasizing complete removal or destruction.
• Used in contexts of geology, construction, violence, and figurative economic or emotional harm.

Variants and Related Words

• Gouge (verb): To make a groove or hole in something with a chisel or similar tool, or to overcharge someone drastically. (e.g., / )
• Gouge (noun): 1. A chisel with a curved blade for cutting grooves. 2. A deep groove or hole made by gouging.
• Excavate (verb): To dig out and remove earth, typically in a more systematic or large-scale way than "gouge out."
• Scoop out (verb): To remove something by using a scooping motion, often less violent than "gouge out."

Synonyms

• Hollow out: To make something hollow by removing the inside material.
• Scoop out: To remove something with a scooping action.
• Dig out: To remove something by digging.
• Excavate: To dig out material from the ground.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Gouge out does not have common phrasal verb variations beyond its standard form. The particle "out" is integral to its core meaning of removal.

Related Idioms

• To gouge someone's eyes out: An idiom expressing extreme anger or a violent threat.
• No direct common idioms exist that use "gouge out" in a fixed, metaphorical phrase beyond its literal and figurative applications as described.

Verb

1. make gouges into a surface
   • The woman's spiked heels gouged out the wooden floor