gear

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

• IPA^(key): /ɡɪə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɡɪɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(r)

Noun

gear (countable and uncountable, plural gears)

1. (uncountable) Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.
2. Clothing; garments.
   • Spenser

     Array thyself in thy most gorgeous gear.

3. (obsolete) Goods; property; household items.
   • Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales)

     Woe was his cook, his sauce were / Poignant and sharp, and ready all his gear.

   • Robynson (More's Utopia)

     Homely gear and common ware.

4. (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

5. (countable, automotive, cycling) A particular combination or choice of interlocking gears, such that a particular gear ratio is achieved.
6. (countable, automotive) A configuration of the transmission of a motor car so as to achieve a particular ratio of engine to axle torque.
7. (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."

8. (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."

9. (obsolete) Business matters; affairs; concern.
   • Spenser

     Thus go they both together to their gear.

10. (obsolete, Britain, dialect) Anything worthless; nonsense; rubbish.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)

    • Latimer

      That servant of his that confessed and uttered this gear was an honest man.

Verb

gear (third-person singular simple present gears, present participle gearing, simple past and past participle geared)

1. (engineering, transitive) To provide with gearing; to fit with gears in order to achieve a desired gear ratio.

1. (engineering, intransitive) To be in, or come into, gear.
2. To dress; to put gear on; to harness.

Adjective

gear (comparative more gear, superlative most gear)

1. (chiefly Liverpudlian) great or fantastic

Anagrams

• Ager, GRAE, Rega, ager, areg, gare, rage

Alternative forms

• geayr, geyre

Etymology

From Old Irish gér.

Verb

gear (verbal noun gearey)

1. to laugh, chuckle

Adjective

gear

1. sharp, keen
2. sour, acid

Further reading

• “gér” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Alternative forms

• ġēr (Anglian)

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *jērą, from Proto-Indo-European *yeh₁r-. Cognate with Old Frisian jēr (West Frisian jier), Old Saxon jār (Middle Low German jâr), Dutch jaar, Old High German jār (Old High German Jahr), Old Norse ár (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish år, Icelandic/Faroese ár), Gothic 𐌾𐌴𐍂 (jēr). The Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “season”), Russian яра (jara),Czech jaro, Lithuanian jore (“springtime”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jæːɑr/

Noun

ġēar n (nominative plural ġēar)

1. year

   Ðis wæs feorþes geares his rices: this was in the fourth year of his reign. (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle)

2. the runic character ᛄ (/j/)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ʒɨˈaɾ]

Verb

gear (past participle geado)

1. to frost (weather)

Adverb

gear

1. together