Definition of "gear"

gear

/ɡɪə(ɹ)/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural gears
1. (uncountable) Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.
2. Clothing; garments.
  Quotations
  Aray thy selfe in her most gorgeous geare
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 26
  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
  2000, “(I'm Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica”, in Tom Lehrer (music), The Remains of Tom Lehrer, performed by Tom Lehrer
3. (obsolete) Goods; property; household items.
  Quotations
  Homely gear and common ware.
  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, […]
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.
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. (aviation) Ellipsis of landing gear.
8. (uncountable, slang) Recreational drugs, including steroids.
  Quotations
  "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."
  2003, Marianne Hancock, Looking for Oliver, page 90
9. (uncountable, archaic) Stuff.
  Quotations
  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
10. (obsolete) Business matters; affairs; concern.
  Quotations
  goe they both together to their geare.
  1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 30
11. (obsolete, UK, dialect) Anything worthless; nonsense; rubbish.
  Quotations
  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
verb
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.
2. (engineering, intransitive) To be in, or come into, gear.
3. To dress; to put gear on; to harness.
4. (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).
5. (finance) To borrow money in order to invest it in assets.
adjective
comparative more gear, superlative most gear
1. (chiefly Liverpool) great or fantastic

Definition of "gear"

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