to gouge

To squeeze out a man's eye with the thumb: a cruel practice used by the Bostonians in America.

Gouge
·noun Soft material lying between the wall of a vein aud the solid vein. II. Gouge ·noun Imposition...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
gouge
Imposition; cheat; fraud. R-- and H-- will probably receive from Mr. Polk's administration 100,000 ...

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.