| 1. | Machinery.
|
| 2. | implements, tools, or apparatus, esp. as used for a particular occupation or activity; paraphernalia: fishing gear. |
| 3. | a harness, esp. of horses. |
| 4. | Nautical.
|
| 5. | portable items of personal property, including clothing; possessions: The campers keep all their gear in footlockers. |
| 6. | wearing apparel; clothing: The fashion pages of the Sunday paper are featuring the latest fall gear. |
| 7. | armor or arms. |
| 8. | to provide with or connect by gearing. |
| 9. | to put in or into gear. |
| 10. | to provide with gear; supply; equip. |
| 11. | to prepare, adjust, or adapt to a particular situation, person, etc., in order to bring about satisfactory results: The producers geared their output to seasonal demands. |
| 12. | to fit exactly, as one part of gearing into another; come into or be in gear. |
| 13. | Slang. great; wonderful. |
| 14. | gear down,
|
| 15. | gear up,
|
| 16. | in gear,
|
| 17. | in or into high gear, in or into a state of utmost speed, activity, or efficiency: Military rearmament moved into high gear. |
| 18. | out of gear, Machinery. in the state in which gears are not connected or meshed: The engine is out of gear. |
| 19. | shift or switch gears, to change one's attitude, course of action, methods, etc., in an abrupt, dramatic, or unexpected manner: In the middle of the second act the play shifts gears from comedy to tragedy. |

gear
|
gear (gîr) Pronunciation Key
(click for larger image in new window) A wheel with teeth around its rim that mesh with the teeth of another wheel to transmit motion. Gears are used to transmit power (as in a car transmission) or change the direction of motion in a mechanism (as in a differential axle). Fixed ratios of speed in various parts of a machine is often established by the arrangement of gears. |