gouge
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gouge (something) out of (someone or something)
1. To obtain something from someone by deceiving or swindling them. I don't trust that guy—I bet he's trying to gouge your life's savings out of you. Mom, anyone who asks for your Social Security number over the phone is trying to gouge you out of your hard-earned money. Don't trust them! That charity always seemed shady to me. I figured it existed primarily to gouge unsuspecting donors out of money.
2. To remove something from something else by scraping or scooping. You need to gouge the innards out of the pumpkin first. Wow, what do you think gouged a whole chunk out of this tree trunk? We're learning about block printing in art class, so we're using special tools to gouge a pattern out of a linoleum block.
gouge out
To remove something from something else by scraping or scooping. A noun or pronoun can be used between "gouge" and "out." You need to gouge out the innards first, then we can carve a face on the pumpkin. Wow, what do you think gouged out a whole chunk of this tree trunk? We're learning about block printing in art class, so we're using special tools to gouge a pattern out of a linoleum block.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
gouge something out of someone
to cheat someone out of something. (Compare this with chisel something out of someone.) They gouged the money out of the old man. The crooks gouged the life savings out of the old lady.
gouge something out of something
and gouge something outto scoop or chisel something out of something. Tom gouged a horrible furrow out of the wood of the piano bench. He gouged out a horrible scratch.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.