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Gauge, strictly speaking, was the measuring device used to determine the diameter of the shot. It appears to have come into use around the time that (surprise) cannons started to become common on the battlefield (mid 1400s), or quite a few years before individual firearms became common, and 150 years or more before the advent of rifling.
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So that explains why they referred to cannons, culverns, and carronades as "pounders" (as in 10 pounders, 16 pounders, etc.) before, during and after Lord Nelson's time. I don't know why, but I never made the connection until now. So I guess that a one pounder would be a 1 gauge or 1 bore. I wonder how they referred to the size of the Brown Bess musket's bore/gauge/caliber?