gear
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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
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.
- (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.
- Get the gear down quick!
- (uncountable, slang) Recreational drugs, including steroids.
- 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.
- 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book III, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 113:
- (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.
- March 29, 1549, Hugh Latimer, the fourth sermon preached before King Edward
Derived terms
- 782 gear
- angel gear
- arresting gear
- bevel gear
- bicycle gear
- bicycle landing gear
- body gear
- bottom gear
- brakegear, brake gear
- chafing gear
- change gear
- change gears
- clash gear
- click into gear
- de-gear
- differential gear
- epicyclic gear
- fifth gear
- find a new gear
- find another gear
- first gear
- fixed-gear bicycle
- fourth gear
- gear acquisition syndrome
- gearbox
- gear case
- gear change
- gear down
- gear head
- gear knob
- gear lever
- gear oil
- gear shift
- gear stick
- gear train
- gear-wheel
- gearwheel
- get one's arse in gear
- get one's ass in gear
- get one's ass into gear
- ghost gear
- give someone the gears
- granny gear
- grinding gear
- herringbone gear
- high gear
- in full gear
- in gear
- in high gear
- interrupter gear
- jacking gear
- landing gear
- laughing gear
- laughing-gear
- low gear
- main gear
- mortise gear
- nose gear
- out of gear
- planetary gear
- planetary gear train
- planet gear
- reverse gear
- reversing gear
- riot gear
- running gear
- sanding gear
- second gear
- second-gear valuation
- segment gear
- shift gear
- shift gears
- 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
- up a gear
- wing gear
- worm gear
Translations
equipment or paraphernalia
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gear wheel — see gear wheel
a particular combination or choice of interlocking gears
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motor car transmission
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Verb
gear (third-person singular simple present gears, present participle gearing, simple past and past participle geared)
- (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
Translations
to fit with gears in order to achieve a desired gear ratio
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- 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
Manx
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle Irish gér, from Old Irish gér.
Verb
gear (verbal noun gearey)
Adjective
gear
Further reading
- G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “gér”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
Old English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *jār, from Proto-Germanic *jērą, from Proto-Indo-European *yeh₁r-.
Pronunciation
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 rīċes
- This 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...
- The Dialogues of Solomon and Saturn
- 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.
- late 10th century, Ælfric, "Passion of St. Julian and his Wife Basilissa"
- harvest
- the runic character ᛄ (/j/)
Declension
Declension of gear (strong a-stem)
Derived terms
- ġeāra (uncertain)
- ġēardagas
- ġēares dæġ
- ġēarlīċ
- ġēarġemynd
Descendants
Portuguese
Etymology
From an Old Galician-Portuguese *gear (compare geo), from Latin gelāre. Doublet of the borrowing gelar. Compare also Galician xear.
Pronunciation
- Hyphenation: ge‧ar
Verb
gear (impersonal, third-person singular present geia, third-person singular preterite geou, past participle geado)
- (impersonal) to frost (weather)
Conjugation
Conjugation of gear (impersonal; e becomes ei when stressed) (See Appendix:Portuguese verbs)
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First-person (eu) |
Second-person (tu) |
Third-person (ele / ela / você) |
First-person (nós) |
Second-person (vós) |
Third-person (eles / elas / vocês) | |
| Infinitive | ||||||
| Impersonal | gear | |||||
| Personal | — | — | gear | — | — | — |
| Gerund | ||||||
| geando | ||||||
| Past participle | ||||||
| Masculine | geado | — | ||||
| Feminine | — | — | ||||
| Indicative | ||||||
| Present | — | — | geia | — | — | — |
| Imperfect | — | — | geava | — | — | — |
| Preterite | — | — | geou | — | — | — |
| Pluperfect | — | — | geara | — | — | — |
| Future | — | — | geará | — | — | — |
| Conditional | — | — | gearia | — | — | — |
| Subjunctive | ||||||
| Present | — | — | geie | — | — | — |
| Imperfect | — | — | geasse | — | — | — |
| Future | — | — | gear | — | — | — |
| Imperative | ||||||
| Affirmative | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Negative (não) | — | — | — | — | — | |
Related terms
West Frisian
Pronunciation
Adverb
gear
Further reading
- “gear (III)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011