# gear
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English gere, a borrowing from Old Norse gervi, from Proto-Germanic *garwijaną (“to prepare”). See also adjective yare, yar from the same root via Old English.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA: /ɡɪə/
** Audio (General Australian):(file)
* (US) enPR: gîr, IPA: /ɡɪɚ/
* (New Zealand) IPA: /ɡiə/
* (Scotland) IPA: /ɡiːɹ/
* (East Anglia, cheer–chair merger) IPA: /ɡɛː/
* Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

### Noun

gear (countable and uncountable, plural gears)
* (uncountable) Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.
* Clothing; garments.
** 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 26:Aray thy selfe in her most gorgeous geare
** 2000, “s:(I'm Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica”, in Tom Lehrer (music), The Remains of Tom Lehrer, performed by Tom Lehrer:Those Eastern winters, ⁠I can't endure 'em / So every year I pack my gear and come out here till Purim / Rosh Hashanah, I spend in Arizona
* (obsolete) Goods; property; household items.
** 1551, Thomas More, “(please specify the Internet Archive page)”, in Raphe Robynson [i.e., Ralph Robinson], transl., A Fruteful, and Pleasaunt Worke of the Best State of a Publyque Weale, and of the Newe Yle Called Utopia: […], London: […] [Steven Mierdman for] Abraham Vele, […], →OCLC:Homely gear and common ware.
* (countable) A wheel with grooves (teeth) engraved on the outer circumference, such that two such devices can interlock and convey motion from one to the other; a gear wheel.
    Synonyms: cog, cogwheel, gearwheel
* (countable, automotive, cycling) A particular combination or choice of interlocking gears, such that a particular gear ratio is achieved.
* (countable, automotive) A configuration of the transmission of a motor car so as to achieve a particular ratio of engine to axle torque.
* (aviation) Ellipsis of landing gear.
    gear-up landing
    Get the gear down quick!
* (uncountable, slang) Recreational drugs, including steroids.
    getting on gear
** 2003, Marianne Hancock, Looking for Oliver, page 90:"Have you got any gear? Dominic, have you got any acid?" Emma kept running her hands nervously through her hair. "Not LSD, man; that last trip freaked me out."
* (uncountable, archaic) Stuff.
** 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book III, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 113:
    When he was digged up, which was in the presence of the Magistracy of the Town, his body was found entire, not at all putrid, no ill smell about him, saving the mustiness of the grave-Clothes, his joynts limber and flexible, as in those that are alive, his skin only flaccid, but a more fresh grown in the room of it, the wound of his throat gaping, but no gear nor corruption in it; there was also observed a Magical mark in the great toe of his right foot, viz. an Excrescency in the form of a Rose.
* (obsolete) Business matters; affairs; concern.
** 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30:goe they both together to their geare.
* (obsolete, UK, dialect) Anything worthless; nonsense; rubbish.
** March 29, 1549, Hugh Latimer, the fourth sermon preached before King Edward
    That servant of his that confessed and uttered this gear was an honest man.

#### Derived terms

* 782 gear
* all the gear and no idea
* angel gear
* arresting gear
* bevel gear
* bicycle gear
* bicycle landing gear
* blast gear
* body gear
* bottom gear
* brakegear, brake gear
* chafing gear
* change gear
* change gears
* clash gear
* click into gear
* creeper gear
* de-gear
* degear
* differential gear
* drawgear
* epicyclic gear
* eyegear
* fifth gear
* find a new gear
* find another gear
* first gear
* fixed-gear bicycle
* footgear
* foregear
* fourth gear
* gear acquisition syndrome
* gearbox
* gear case
* gear change
* geardo
* gear down
* gear head
* Gearhead
* gearhead
* gearjammer
* gear knob
* gearknob
* gearless
* gear lever
* gearlike
* gearmaker
* gearman
* gearmotor
* gear oil
* gear queer
* gearset
* gear shift
* gearstick
* gear stick
* gear train
* gearwheel
* gear-wheel
* gearwork
* get one's arse in gear
* get one's arse into gear
* get one's ass in gear
* get one's ass into gear
* ghost gear
* give someone the gears
* granny gear
* grinding gear
* headgear
* herringbone gear
* high gear
* in full gear
* in gear
* in high gear
* interrupter gear
* in the rear with the gear
* jacking gear
* landing gear
* laughing gear
* laughing-gear
* low gear
* main gear
* mortise gear
* multigear
* nanogear
* neckgear
* nightgear
* nosegear
* nose gear
* out of gear
* planetary gear
* planetary gear train
* planet gear
* raingear
* reverse gear
* reversing gear
* riot gear
* running gear
* sanding gear
* second gear
* second-gear valuation
* segment gear
* shift gear
* shift gears
* shoegear
* shrouded gear
* spur gear
* sun and planet gear
* sun gear
* switch gear
* switchgear
* synchronization gear
* tandem landing gear
* third gear
* top gear
* truck driver's gear change
* turning gear
* turnout gear
* undergear
* ungear
* up a gear
* upgear
* wing gear
* worm gear

#### Descendants

* → Japanese: ギア (gia)

#### Translations
### Verb

gear (third-person singular simple present gears, present participle gearing, simple past and past participle geared)
* This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!
* (engineering, transitive) To provide with gearing; to fit with gears in order to achieve a desired gear ratio.
* (engineering, intransitive) To be in gear, come into gear.
* To dress; to put gear on; to harness.
* (usually with to or toward(s)) To design or devise (something) so as to be suitable (for a particular type of person or a particular purpose).
    This shop is not really geared towards people of our age.
    They have geared the hotel mainly at tourists.
* (finance) To borrow money in order to invest it in assets.

#### Derived terms

* gear to
* gear towards
* gear up
* regear
* re-gear

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Adjective

gear (comparative more gear, superlative most gear)
* (chiefly Liverpool) great or fantastic

### Anagrams

* Ager, GRAE, Gera, Rega, ager, areg, gare, rage

## Manx
### Alternative forms

* geayr, geyre

### Etymology 1

From Old Irish gáirid.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡɛːrʲ/

#### Verb

gear (verbal noun gearey)
* to laugh, chuckle

### Etymology 2

From Middle Irish gér, from Old Irish gér.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡʲeːr/

#### Adjective

gear
* sharp, keen
* sour, acid

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Manx. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### Further reading

* Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “gér”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

## Old English
### Alternative forms

* ġǣr, ġēr — Anglian

### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *jār, from Proto-Germanic *jērą, from Proto-Indo-European *yeh₁r-.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /jæ͜ɑːr/

### Noun

ġēar n
* year
** The Dialogues of Solomon and Saturn
    Ic þē secge, hēo wæs iii and sixtiġ ġēara eald, ðā hēo belȳfen wæs...I tell thee, she was three and sixty years old when she died...
** c. 9-12 CE, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:Þis wæs fēorþes ġēares his rīċesThis was in the fourth year of his reign.
** late 10th century, Ælfric, "Saint Sebastian, Martyr"
    Þa wurdon hi ealle þurh þæt wundor ablicgede and þæs þægnes gebedda ðe þa gebroþra heold wæs for six gearum for swiðlicre untrumnysse...Then they were all astonished at that miracle; and the wife of the officer, who had charge of the brothers, for six years, through a severe sickness...
* age, years old (+plural genitive)
** late 10th century, Ælfric, "Passion of St. Julian and his Wife Basilissa"
    Þa wolde his fæder and his frynd ealle þæt he wifian sceolde þa ða he eahtetyne gæra wæs...Then his father desired, and all his friends likewise, that he should marry, when he was eighteen years old.
* (good) harvest
** (Runic alphabet) name of the rune ᛄ (j)

#### Declension

Strong a-stem:

#### Derived terms

* ġeāra (uncertain)
* ġēardagas
* ġēares dæġ
* ġēarġemynd
* ġēarlīċ

#### Descendants

* Middle English: yeer, here, yere, ȝere
** English: year
*** Jamaican Creole: ier
*** Tok Pisin: yia
*** → Chuukese: ier
*** → Japanese: イヤー (iyā)
*** → Volapük: yel
** Scots: year

## Portuguese
### Etymology

From an Old Galician-Portuguese *gear (compare geo), from Latin gelāre. Doublet of the borrowing gelar. Compare also Galician xear.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ʒeˈa(ʁ)/ [ʒeˈa(h)]
* (Brazil) IPA: /ʒeˈa(ʁ)/ [ʒeˈa(h)]
** (São Paulo) IPA: /ʒeˈa(ɾ)/
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /ʒeˈa(ʁ)/ [ʒeˈa(χ)]
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ʒeˈa(ɻ)/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈʒjaɾ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈʒjaɾ/
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /ˈʒja.ɾi/
* Hyphenation: ge‧ar

### Verb

gear (impersonal, third-person singular present geia, third-person singular preterite geou, past participle geado)
* (impersonal) to frost (weather)

#### Related terms

* geada
* geado
* gelar
* gelo

## West Frisian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡɪə̯r/

### Adverb

gear
* together

#### Further reading

* “gear (III)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011