gear

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See also: géar, gèar, and Gear

English

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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gear (countable and uncountable, plural gears)

  1. (uncountable) Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.
  2. Clothing; garments.
  3. (obsolete) Goods; property; household items.
  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. (aviation) Ellipsis of landing gear.
    Get the gear down quick!
  8. (uncountable, slang) Recreational drugs, including steroids.
    getting on gear
    • 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."
  9. (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.
  10. (obsolete) Business matters; affairs; concern.
  11. (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.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!
  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 gear, 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).
    This shop is not really geared towards people of our age.
    They have geared the hotel mainly at tourists.
  5. (finance) To borrow money in order to invest it in assets.

Derived terms

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Translations

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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

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gear (comparative more gear, superlative most gear)

  1. (chiefly Liverpool) great or fantastic

Anagrams

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Manx

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Alternative forms

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Etymology 1

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From Old Irish gáirid.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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gear (verbal noun gearey)

  1. to laugh, chuckle

Etymology 2

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From Middle Irish gér, from Old Irish gér.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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gear

  1. sharp, keen
  2. sour, acid

Mutation

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Manx mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
gear ghear ngear
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

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Old English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

From Proto-West Germanic *jār, from Proto-Germanic *jērą, from Proto-Indo-European *yeh₁r-.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ġēar n

  1. 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...
  2. 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.
  3. (good) harvest
    1. (Runic alphabet) name of the rune (j)

Declension

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Middle English: yeer, here, yere, ȝere
    • English: year
      • Jamaican Creole: ier
      • Tok Pisin: yia
      • Chuukese: ier
      • Japanese: イヤー (iyā)
      • Volapük: yel
    • Scots: year

Portuguese

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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  • Hyphenation: ge‧ar

Verb

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gear (impersonal, third-person singular present geia, third-person singular preterite geou, past participle geado)

  1. (impersonal) to frost (weather)

Conjugation

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West Frisian

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Pronunciation

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Adverb

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gear

  1. together

Further reading

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  • gear (III)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011