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Webster 1913 Edition

Gear

Gear

(gēr)
,
Noun.
[OE.
gere
,
ger
, AS.
gearwe
clothing, adornment, armor, fr.
gearo
,
gearu
, ready, yare; akin to OHG.
garawī
,
garwī
ornament, dress. See
Yare
, and cf.
Garb
dress.]
1.
Clothing; garments; ornaments.
Array thyself in thy most gorgeous
gear
.
Spenser.
2.
Goods; property; household stuff.
Chaucer.
Homely
gear
and common ware.
Robynson (More’s Utopia).
3.
Whatever is prepared for use or wear; manufactured stuff or material.
Clad in a vesture of unknown
gear
.
Spenser.
4.
The harness of horses or cattle; trapping.
5.
Warlike accouterments.
[Scot.]
Jamieson.
6.
Manner; custom; behavior.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
7.
Business matters; affairs; concern.
[Obs.]
Thus go they both together to their
gear
.
Spenser.
8.
(Mech.)
(a)
A toothed wheel, or cogwheel;
as, a spur
gear
, or a bevel
gear
; also, toothed wheels, collectively.
(b)
An apparatus for performing a special function; gearing;
as, the feed
gear
of a lathe
.
(c)
Engagement of parts with each other;
as, in
gear
; out of
gear
.
9.
pl.
(Naut.)
See 1st
Jeer
(b)
.
10.
Anything worthless; stuff; nonsense; rubbish.
[Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
Wright.
That servant of his that confessed and uttered this
gear
was an honest man.
Latimer.
Bever gear
.
See
Bevel gear
.
–
Core gear
,
a mortise gear, or its skeleton. See
Mortise wheel
, under
Mortise
.
–
Expansion gear
(Steam Engine)
,
the arrangement of parts for cutting off steam at a certain part of the stroke, so as to leave it to act upon the piston expansively; the cut-off. See under
Expansion
.
–
Feed gear
.
See
Feed motion
, under
Feed
,
Noun.
–
Gear cutter
,
a machine or tool for forming the teeth of gear wheels by cutting.
–
Gear wheel
,
any cogwheel.
–
Running gear
.
See under
Running
.
–
To throw in gear
or
To throw out of gear
(Mach.)
,
to connect or disconnect (wheelwork or couplings, etc.); to put in, or out of, working relation.

Gear

(gēr)
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Geared
(gērd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Gearing
.]
1.
To dress; to put gear on; to harness.
2.
(Mach.)
To provide with gearing.
Double geared
,
driven through twofold compound gearing, to increase the force or speed; – said of a machine.

Gear

,
Verb.
I.
(Mach.)
To be in, or come into, gear.

Webster 1828 Edition

Gear

GEAR

, n.
1.
Apparatus; whatever is prepared; hence, habit; dress; ornaments.
Array thyself in her most gorgeous gear.
2.
More generally, the harness or furniture of beasts; whatever is used in equipping horses or cattle for draught; tackle.
3.
In Scotland, warlike accouterments; also, goods, riches.
4.
Business; matters.
5.
By seamen pronounced jears, which see.

GEAR

,
Verb.
T.
To dress; to put on gear; to harness.

Definition 2024

Gear

Gear

See also: gear, géar, and gèar

Scottish Gaelic

Proper noun

Gear

  1. Feb (February)

gear

gear

See also: géar, gèar, and Gear

English

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.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)
    • 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
  5. (countable) a particular combination or choice of interlocking gears, such that a particular gear ratio is achieved.
  6. (countable) 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.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

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.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

gear ‎(comparative more gear, superlative most gear)

  1. (mostly British (Scouse)) great or fantastic

Anagrams

Manx

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Irish gér.

Adjective

gear

  1. sharp, keen
  2. sour, acid

Old English

Alternative forms

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 (German Jahr), Old Norse ár (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish år, Icelandic/Faroese ár), Gothic 𐌾𐌴𐍂 ‎(jer). The Indo-European root is also the source of Greek ὥρα ‎(hṓra, “season”), Russian яра ‎(jara), Czech jaro, Lithuanian jore ‎(“springtime”).

Pronunciation

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/)

Derived terms

Descendants

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese *gear, from Latin gelāre, present active infinitive of gelō.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ʒɨˈaɾ]

Verb

gear ‎(past participle geado)

  1. to frost (weather)

Conjugation

Related terms

West Frisian

Adverb

gear

  1. together

Etymology

Abbreviation of Gearran ‎(“February”).

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