gear
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɡɪə/
enpr: gîr
ipa: /ɡɪɚ/
ipa: /ɡiə/
ipa: /ɡiːɹ/
note: East Anglia, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /ɡɛː/
rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
Forms: form: gears
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.
Senses: glosses: Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.
examples: text: Aray thy selfe in her most gorgeous geare
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 26:
text: 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
ref: 2000, “s:(I'm Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica”, in Tom Lehrer (music), The Remains of Tom Lehrer, performed by Tom Lehrer:
glosses: Clothing; garments.
examples: text: Homely gear and common ware.
ref: 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:
glosses: Goods; property; household items.
examples: Near-synonyms: (wheel types) cog, cogwheel, gear wheel, gearwheel
glosses: A wheel, wheel segment, or bar with grooves (teeth) engraved on the outer circumference, such that two such devices can interlock and convey motion from one to the other.
topics: automotive
cycling
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
transport
vehicles
glosses: A particular combination or choice of interlocking gears, such that a particular gear ratio is achieved; often selected via a shifter.
topics: automotive
cycling
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
transport
vehicles
glosses: A particular combination or choice of interlocking gears, such that a particular gear ratio is achieved; often selected via a shifter.
A configuration of the transmission of a motor car so as to achieve a particular ratio of engine to axle torque.
examples: text: gear-up landing
text: Get the gear down quick!
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: Ellipsis of landing gear.
examples: text: getting on gear
text: "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."
ref: 2003, Marianne Hancock, Looking for Oliver, page 90:
glosses: Recreational drugs, including steroids.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book III, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 113
glosses: Stuff.
examples: text: goe they both together to their geare.
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30:
glosses: Business matters; affairs; concern.
examples: text: 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.
glosses: Anything worthless; nonsense; rubbish.
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
cage 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
gearhead
gear head
Gearhead
gearjammer
gearknob
gear knob
gearless
gear lever
gearlike
gearmaker
gearman
gearmotor
gear oil
gear queer
gearset
gear shift
gearstick
gear stick
gear train
gear-wheel
gearwheel
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
lantern gear
laughing-gear
laughing gear
low gear
main gear
mortise gear
multigear
nanogear
neckgear
nightgear
nose gear
nosegear
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
skew 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
valve gear
wing gear
worm gear