| 释义 |
▪ I. gear, n.|gɪə(r)|
Forms: 3 gære, 4–5 ger, 4 guere, 5–6 gheer(e, 4–5 gare, 5–6 gayre, gaire, geyre, 4–9 ge(e)r(e, geir(e, 5–6 geyer, 6–8 geare, 6– gear.
[ME. gere, prob. ad. ON. gervi, gørvi = OE. *ᵹieru (poet. in pl. ᵹearwe, with pre-Eng. change of declension), OS. garewi, gerwi, OHG. garawî, gar(e)wî:—OTeut. *garwîn- wk. fem., f. *garwu- ready, yare, whence *garwjan to make ready, ON. gerva, gørva, gera, gøra to make, gar v.
It is prob. unnecessary to assume as the source an ON. *geri with a dropping of the v (w) similar to that in gera, gøra, the common prose forms of the verb gørva; there was app. in ME. a disposition to reduce rw to r after a stressed palatal vowel.]
I. Equipment. Cf. furniture 4.
1. a. collect. sing. († rarely pl.) Apparel, attire, dress, vestments. Now common in colloq. use.
a1310in Wright Lyric P. x. 36 Heo glystnede ase gold when hit glemede, ues ner gome so gladly on gere. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B 1811 Þat we gon gay in oure gere. 1390Gower Conf. II. 227 Let clothen in the same gere. 1450–70Golagros & Gaw. 158 Ane girdill ourgilt, and vthir light gere. 1465J. Paston in Paston Lett. No. 526 II. 233, I beseche yow that this ger be not forget, for I have not an hole hose for to doon. 1484Churchw. Acc. Croscombe (Som. Rec. Soc.) 13 Item for wayschyng of the church gare vis. iiijd. 1526Skelton Magnyf. 776, I can devyse my gere after the courtly maner. 1530Nottingham Rec. III. 363 For makyng the dawnsars gayre. 1563–87Foxe A. & M. (1684) II. 38/1 They did it to shew their new gay geere. 1727Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. i. Wks. (1730) 295 My Lady's geer alone were as much as filld four portmantel trunks. 1776Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. Ser. ii. (1862) II. 196, I have put on all my birthday geer. 1792A. Young Trav. France 61 Dressed in holiday geers. 1807Wordsw. White Doe iii. 34 Noisy swarms of peasants in their homely gear. 1857Holland Bay Path xxiv. 278 Mr. Pynchon himself, in his rusty travelling gear. 1879‘E. Garrett’ House by Wks. II. 206 She packed her own marriage gear..with her own hand. 1963Sunday Express 22 Dec. 14/2 A designer of singularly avant garde ‘gear’ (men's wear to the uninitiated). 1966Listener 3 Mar. 327/2 There was no dressing up—in case, presumably, the customers fled at the sight of the queer gear.
†b. Appendages to a (clerical) vestment. Obs.
1552Invent. Ch. Goods (Surtees 1897) 37 Albes and other geir belonging to the afforesaid vestmentes. Ibid. 55 One old vestment..and one..boithe without geire.
†c. pl. Habits, manners. Obs. rare.
The earliest recorded sense: placed here as being possibly a forced application of sense 1, suggested by the L. habitus.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 35 Þe deuel..teð forð geres hwile after fox, hwile after wulue, hwile after leun, hwile after oðre, and on ech of hise deden is iefned to þe deore wuas geres he forðteoð. Ibid. 165 Hie..teð forð geres after wilde deore, sume after beore, sume after wulue, sume after oðer deor. Ibid. 209.
2. Armour, arms, warlike accoutrements. Rarely pl. Also fighting-gear. Obs. exc. arch.
c1205Lay. 13679 On ich wulle mid mine gære. a1300Cursor M. 7533 ‘Dos awai’, he [David] said, ‘þis gere, Certes can i nan armes bere’. 1375Barbour Bruce xviii. 165 Thai..fand Gib Harper in his ger. And, for sa gude his armys wer, Thai [etc.]. c1420Avow. Arth. xxiv, Quen thou art armut in thi gere, Take thi schild and thi spere. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 88 a/2 They made theyr geer redy and departed. 1513Act 5 Hen. VIII, c. 6 Any Armour or defenceable Geer of War. 1546in Tytler Hist. Scotl. (1864) III. 374 After yame came the young laird..and viii men with hym all in geir. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. v. v, Of serviceable fighting-gear small stock. 1864Skeat Uhland's Poems 376 The host comes slowly onward, equipped with warlike gear.
3. a. Accoutrements of a riding horse, or his rider. († Formerly also pl.) Now always explicitly riding-gear.
a1400–50Alexander 790* (Dublin) Grathez on þis gay gere, & þen a gilt sadyll. c1420Sir Amadace (Camden) xxxii, Ylke mon his owne schall have, That he syttes apon, Sadyll, brydyll, and oder geyre. 1535Coverdale Zech. xiv. 20 At that tyme shal the rydinge geer of y⊇ horses be holy vnto the Lorde. 1690Dryden Don. Sebast. i. i. Wks. 1883 VII. 342 Ant. Thou wilt not make a horse of me? Must. Be advised, friend, and buckle to thy gears [makes him go down on all-fours, bridles him—‘To your paces villain, amble, trot and gallop’]. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xlvii, Bridles, top-boots, spurs, and such gear, were strewn about. 1871Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 46 The Egyptians were skilful manufacturers of riding gear.
b. Harness for draught animals. Before the 19th c. chiefly pl.
a1300Cursor M. 6221 Sex hundreth cartes wit al þair geres. 1424E.E. Wills (1882) 56 My cartes and my plowes, and all my hors þat longen to hem, whith all her gere. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §5 He muste haue..his oxen or horses, and the geare that belongeth to them; that is to say, bowes, yokes [etc.]. 1525Will in Ely Episcop. Rec. (1891) 220 Y⊇ best donge carte, and fyve gayres of y⊇ best; and my best ploughe and the geyers. 1601Holland Pliny I. 221 When they [horses] are set in their geirs to draw the chariots, how they ioy when they are encouraged. 1695Lond. Gaz. No. 3115/4 A Sorrel Mare..the Hair rub'd off her sides with Geers. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 138 ⁋11 She rises before the sun to order the horses to their geers. 1799G. Washington Lett. Writ. 1893 XIV. 220 Not suffering the Ploughs, Harrows..and the Gears belonging to them, to be unnecessarily exposed. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 74 Cracking whip and jingling gears Recall'd the toils of boyish years. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 129 Their gear or harness, including the cost of keeping it in repair, amounts to 25s. yearly. 1869Lonsdale Gloss., Gear, harness, tackle of any kind, furniture; as plough-gear, cart-gear, etc. 1886Chesh. Gloss. s.v., ‘What's Tom doing this wet day?’ ‘Mester, he's cleaning th' gears.’
†4. fig. (Prob. chiefly referring to sense 3 b.) (ready) in one's gears: in harness, ready for work = L. in procinctu. to put in, get into one's gears: to set or get to work. right in one's gear: in one's right senses. warm in one's gear(s: settled down to work. out of one's gears: out of sorts. Obs.
c1460Towneley Myst. xxi. 181 He is inwardly flayde, not right in his gere. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xiii. 184 They think themselves not warm in their geeres, till they are all on fire. 1642Rogers Naaman 128 Iehu..being warme in his geare. a1659Cleveland Gen. Poems, etc. (1677) 134 Let him put himself in his Geers. 1664G. Etherege Com. Rev. iv. ii. 67 Is Grace ready in her gears. a1677Barrow Pope's Suprem. (1687) 49 The Apostles were..in procinctu, ready in their gears to move whither Divine suggestions did call them. 1682Dryden Medal 60 The Frauds he learnt in his Fanatick Years Made him uneasie in his Lawful Gears. 1683Penn Descr. Pennsylv. 8 Of this more hereafter, being yet Raw and New in our Geer. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v., Out of his Gears, out of sorts. 1711Swift Wks. (1824) II. 463 Nuttal was surprised when they gave him bits of paper instead of money, but I made Ben Tooke put him in his gears. 1712–13― Jrnl. to Stella 8 Jan., I am in my geers..and I treat folks sometimes. 1780Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 4 July, Keep my master tight in his geers.
II. Apparatus.
5. a. Apparatus generally; appliances, implements, tackle, tools. † Also pl. toys.
a1300Cursor M. 24485 (Gött.) Joseph and nichodeme..Wid þaim broght þai gere enogh, vte of his fete þe nail droght. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1505 Nov is alle þis guere geten glotounes to serue. 1375Barbour Bruce xvii. 702 Iohne crab, that had his geir all ȝar, In his fagattis has set the fyre. c1386Chaucer Prol. 352 Wo was his Cook but if his sauce were Poynaunt and sharpe and redy al his geere. a1400–50Alexander 1773 For ai a child mot him chese . to childire geris. 1461Paston Lett. No. 391 II. 13 It were tyme your gere necessarye on that by halfe were purveyd fore. 1823Scott Peveril xxxvi, The warders must bring their own gear [fetters] with them. 1832J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. (1858) II. 260 All the quarry gear was swept away by one of the great floods. 1850Scoresby Cheever's Whaleman's Adv. iv. (1859) 60 An ingenious Frenchman..had bladders and other gear to float dead whales. 1851Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 28 Gear, work-tools, consisting of picks, drills, maul and wedge, shovel, cracket, &c. 1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. p. xxxiv, Such sportsman's gear as rods, lines, artificial flies, and baits. 1885Act 48 & 49 Vict. c. 70 §7 Injury..done by one sea-fishing boat to another, or to the nets, lines, and gear thereof. 1885Sir J. C. Mathew in Law Times Rep. LII. 265/1 The vessel..was sold as she lay with her gear and tackle. 1885Athenæum 16 May 637/3 Pretending to work, amidst building stones and masons' gear, on a Paris quai.
b. The organs of generation. Now only slang.
1675Hobbes Odyssey (1677) 280 To the dogs to eat they threw his gear. 1704Swift Tale of Tub xi. 202. 1893 in Farmer Slang.
Comb.1611Cotgr., Chaude-colle, saltnesse, leacherousnesse, geereitch.
†c. Weaving. A leaf of heddles. Obs.
1500Nottingham Corp. Rec. 1380, 43 iij. lynen geyrs et j. lathe. 1523Ibid. 1395, 7 Pro quodam instrumento textorum vulgariter dicto a lynen gegre [? read geyre]. 1780A. Young Tour Irel. I. 324 It [flax] is ready to be delivered to the weaver, with the reed and geers adapted to manufacturing it. 1813T. Martin Circle Mech. Arts 239 in Bischoff Woollen Manuf. (1862) II. 407 The loom consists merely of two bamboo rollers, one for the warp, and another for the web, and a pair of geer. 1822R. G. Wallace 15 Yrs. Ind. 298 The loom consists of a reed and geers, with a small beam, upon which the warp is rolled. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 1285 The Hindu..inserts his great toes into two loops under the geer, to serve him for treddles.
d. Mining. pair of gears = gallows-timber.
1851Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 28, Pair of Gears, see Gallows Timber.
e. that's (or it's) the gear: an expression of approval. Hence as adj., good, excellent, ‘great’. Also as int. slang.
1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 103 Gear, apparatus generally... Also used as a colloquial term for anything giving satisfaction—e.g., ‘That's it, that's the gear!’ 1951Sunday Pictorial 29 Oct., If a guy is ‘gear’, as they call a smart boy, he will dress in a single⁓breasted..drape jacket. 1963Guardian 8 Oct. 9/1 The Liverpool Sound..put expressions like ‘it's the gear’ into the mouths of debs... How long has it been since a native expression ousted a transatlantic jargon import like gear did to crazy and judy to chick? 1963Today 30 Nov. 15 (caption) They're gear! The Beatles leave for London after their triumphant tour of Sweden. 1964J. Burke Hard Day's Night iii. 71 ‘Gear!’ John jumped up from his seat. ‘Come on, girls, let's have a bit of a dance.’ Ibid. iv. 89 Once we even all sat down and wrote those letters saying how gear she was and all that rubbish. 1967W. Murray Sweet Ride vi. 88 Choo Choo, you're boss! Fab! Gear! Bitchin'!
6. Machinery.
a. A combination of wheels, levers, and other mechanical appliances for a given purpose; esp. the appliances or furnishings connected with the acting portions of any piece of mechanism. Often with some defining word prefixed, as expansion-gear, hand-gear, steering-gear, valve-gear, winding-gear: for which see those words.
1523Fitzherb. Surv. xx. (1539) 42 And the mylner shall make all the coste, both of the hous and the goinge geyre. 1786T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) I. 550 The consumption [of coal] will be increased by the additional geer. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 44 Chains have been beneficially introduced as substitutes for straps in driving heavy geer. 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 135 Model of a steam crane, with travelling gear. 1882Knowledge No. 19. 397/2 Being caught by the steering gear or front wheel. 1888F. Hume Mad. Midas i. iii, The towers contained the winding gear. 1892Law Times Rep. LXVII. 251/1 A steamship of 1074 tons net, fitted with steam steering gear.
fig.1861Lond. Rev. 20 Apr. 434/1 There is considerable friction in our parliamentary gear. 1889Lowell Latest Lit. Ess. (1892) 149 None of these set our thinking gear in motion to..good purpose.
b. Wheels working one upon another, by means of teeth, or otherwise. a train of gears: a set of such wheels. Often preceded by some defining word, as bevel-gear, crown-gear, spur-gear. double gear (see quot. 1874).
1829Nat. Philos., Mechanics ii. vii. §70. 30 (U.K.S.) Wheels are denominated spur, crown, or bevel gear, according to the position or direction of the teeth. 1874Knight Dict. Mech. 726/1 Double-gear, the nests of variable-speed gear-wheels in the head-stock of a lathe. 1881Metal World No. 22. 340 The moving of the car sets in motion a train of gears, which in turn gives motion to the pencil mechanism, which traverses crosswise of the paper, while the paper itself traverses from the pencil lengthwise at a uniform speed.
c. (See quot.)
1874Knight Dict. Mech., Gear..the running parts of a wheeled vehicle, as the fore-gears, hind-gears, referring to the fore-axle and its wheels, the hind-axle and its wheels.
d. Aeronaut. Short for landing gear. U.S.
1931J. E. Younger Airplane Constr. & Repair iii. 48 Such a device is called a retractable landing gear. The method is quite practicable provided the pilot does not forget to unfold the gear before landing. 1936Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XL. 275 Call for a maximum permissible time for raising or lowering the undercarriage, although I understand that the U.S. Dept. of Commerce require that a gear should be lowered in 60 seconds or less. 1963Amer. Speech XXXVIII. 118 This is accomplished by adding power, raising the gear and flaps, and climbing back to a safe altitude.
7. a. Machinery. The mechanical arrangements connecting a motor with its work; = gearing. Hence in, out of gear: in, out of connexion with the motor. So to get (put, set, throw) in, into, out of gear.
1814R. Buchanan Mill Work (1823) 451 When any particular part of machinery is set agoing, it is said among workmen to be set on, or put in gear; when stopped, set off, or put out of gear. 1839R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Eng. 103 To see what is to be the position of the eccentric pulley, relative to the crank when in gear. Ibid. 132 To work three or four strokes by hand prior to throwing the eccentric rod in gear. 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 233 For the purpose of moving the handles in and out of gear. 1869Eng. Mech. 19 Mar. 574/2 The..lever..is reversed, so as to throw the shafts..into gear by the action of the..clutch. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. II. 13/2 When wheels are in gear there are three teeth of each engaged. Ibid. IV. 307/2 The parts which they should hold in position get out of gear. 1885Law Rep. 15 Q. Bench Div. 358 A wheel-factory, including the machinery and gear, was mortgaged to the plaintiffs. Ibid., The..driving-belts..could be removed at pleasure when the machinery was thrown out of gear.
fig.1849H. Mayo Pop. Superstit. (1851) 79 The attention..is unlinked from the other faculties, and they are put out of gear. 1860Kingsley Misc. II. 11 An industrial system so out of gear. 1861Thornbury Turner (1862) I. 21 In a week or two he began to get into gear and work better in his new harness. 1874Green Short Hist. v. §4. 241 The whole organization of labour was thrown out of gear. 1880M. E. Braddon Just as I am xviii, I have been out of gear for my ordinary pursuits of late. 1886W. Hooper Sk. Acad. Life 56 He is quite thrown out of gear by every little anomaly.
b. Any of the several sets of gear-wheels in a motor vehicle, bicycle, etc., which can be used to alter the relation between the speed of the engine or driving mechanism and the speed or torque of the driven wheels; also, the relation between the number of revolutions made by a motor vehicle or cycle-wheel and the number of revolutions made by the gear-wheels; high (or low) gear: a gear affording a high (or low) ratio between the speed of the driven wheels and the speed of the driving mechanism, and consequently a high (or low) speed to the vehicle itself; top gear: see s.v. top n.1 34.
1888Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 560 Two-speed gears [for tricycles] are becoming general. 1896F. T. Bidlake Cycling 66 High gear for downhill, low gear for up. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 268/1 The higher the gear, the further the machine travels at each stroke of the pedals. 1902H. Sturmey in A. C. Harmsworth et al. Motors x. 203 When putting a lower gear into operation, as is necessary when climbing a hill. Ibid. 204 If the calculated speed of the second gear is, say, eighteen miles per hour. 1907‘I. Hay’ Pip ii. ix. 283 Sometimes slowing through a village or changing gear up a hill. 1909,1910[see top-gear (b) s.v. top n.1 34]. 1923W. E. Dommett Motor Car Mech. (ed. 2) 185 On the top gear with the dog clutches engaged the speeds are equal. 1930Strand Mag. May 348/1 Trout retired, top gear, into the distance. 1958Times 19 Aug. 11/6 The three-speed gearbox with a comparatively low second gear which encourages the driver to stay in top.
8. Naut. Rigging in general; ‘the rigging of any particular spar or sail’ (Adm. Smyth).
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. 17 See that your main Hall⁓yards be clear, and all the rest of your Geer clear and cast off. 1833Marryat P. Simple (1863) 366, I seized another [axe], and disengaged the..small gear about the mast. 1860Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 279 The topsails were reduced by the patent gear to nearly close reefs.
III. Stuff.
9. a. Goods, movable property, household necessaries and utensils.
a1300Cursor M. 4938 Sargantz send i son on hand Þat in þair gare mi god þai fand. Ibid. 13797 Do þe to ga, wit all þi ger. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 200 Freris and preestis þat..maken riche chirches and housis wiþ oþer gere. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) i. xv. 9, I hald it best to cast awey this gere and shape my selue pryuely to fle. 1466Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 436 Item, owenge to the chaundelere..for wode, candelles and odre gere for howsold, iij.s. xj.d. 1634Milton Comus 166 Some harmelesse Villager, Whom Thrift keeps up about his Countrie Geare. 1785C. Keith Har'st Rig 47 For he did gar her sweetly pay For crackit gear. 1865Livingstone Zambesi x. 216 Then follow wife and daughters with bulky loads of household gear on their heads.
†b. Sc. and north. dial. Possessions in general, wealth, money. goods and gear = wealth, property. † free gear (see free 28 b). Obs.
1535Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 230 Siluer or gold or ony other geir. 1547in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) III. 380, I judge him [Argyle] greedy of gear, desirous of authority. c1565Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1728) 14 Spend his goods and gear. 1570Buchanan Ane Admonit. Wks. (1892) 23 Ȝe wer neuir desyrous of blude geir nor honour. 1609Hume Admonition in Wodrow Soc. Misc. 586 A borrowing..of uther mennis geir. 1637B. Jonson Sad Sheph. ii. i, I am na fay..But a good man, that lives o' my awn geer. 1637Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 300, I had not so much free gear when I came to Christ's camp as to buy a sword. 1706in J. Watson Collect. Poems i. 30 Which made the Laird take up more Gear Than all the Lands or Rigs could bear. 1706Sempill Piper Kilbarchan xiii, His pipes..after wan him gear enough. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull iii. iv, Spending the goods and gear that his forefathers wan with the sweat of their brows [The speaker is Scotch]. 1725Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. ii, His honour maunna want—he poinds your geer. 1775Burns ‘Tibbie, I hae seen the day’ vi, Your daddy's gear maks you sae nice. 1808Mayne Siller Gun ii. xxvi, Dingwall..Whase modest merit Was sae repres'd for want o' gear, Care crush'd his spirit! 1855Robinson Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘Ill gotten gear’, property unjustly obtained. 1884A. S. Swan Dorothea Kirke vi. 58 That foolish, misguided sister of yours has married an old man for his gear!
c. Things. † Also in pl. rare.
a1400Sir Perc. 214 He wolde schote with his spere Bestes and other gere. 1556J. Olde tr. Gualter's Antichrist 124 The God whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and precious stones, and other costly gaires. 1817Southey Ess. (1832) II. 13 The appetite for slander must be sharp-set, when it can prey upon such small gear.
†10.
a. A material substance or stuff; in depreciatory sense, rubbish. Obs.
1489Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xxxvii. 159 A drinke myxte with suche manere of gere that aftre they had taken hyt they were alle dronken. 1549Latimer 6th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 165 Of decimations of Anets seade, and Cummyn, and suche gere. 1562Turner Herbal ii. 50 b, The sour gear that is within [the shell of the Citron] is colde and dry. 1578Lyte Dodoens iv. xvi. 470 You shal finde much of this geare amongst Rye. 1603Sir C. Heydon Jud. Astrol. vii. 187 That out of wheat there should spring vp darnell, solders, and smuttie geare. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 475 The Bramans marke themselves in their fore⁓heads..with a kind of yellow geare which they grinde. 1691Ray N.C. Words Pref. 5 Gear..is also used for trumpery, rubbish, so as stuffe is. 1800Larwood Norfolk Dial. 44 (E.D.S. No. 76) The thacker wou'd ha gin har some doctor's geer in a beaker. 1805H. MacNeill Poet. Wks. (1812) II. 76 A bottle primed..Wi' somewhat mair than half a gallon O' precious gear.
†b. Corrupt and foul matter; pus. Obs.
1562Turner Herbal ii. 131 b, It [Germander] scoureth out also thicke and watery gear out of the brest. 1596Spenser F.Q. vi. xii. 28 That spat out poyson and gore⁓bloudy gere. 1632tr. Bruel's Praxis Med. 223 Cholericke, sowre and stinking geere is voyded. 1653H. More Antid. Ath. iii. viii. (1712) 113 The wound of his throat gaping, but no gear nor corruption in it.
c. Mining. (See quots.)
1747Hooson Miner's Dict. G ij b, Dead, where there is no Ore..Deads are the Gear, or Work got in such dead Places. Ibid. I iv b, Gear, a general Name for all Deads, when cut out of the Wholes. Ibid. Q iij, We rise with these Pair upwards, drawing up the Gear, and teeming it round about them.
11. fig. = matter, stuff, in various uses.
a. Discourse, doctrine, talk; also in depreciatory sense, ‘stuff’, nonsense. ? Obs. exc. arch.
1415Hoccleve To Sir J. Oldcastle 159 Our fadres medled no thyng of swich gere. a1529Skelton Sp. Parrot 387 For drede ye darre not medyll with such gere. 1570B. Googe Pop. Kingd. i. 13 b, I am ashamed here To weare my pen..about such foolish gere. 1606Day Ile of Guls iii. i. (1881) 70 Was not this stinging geere? 1607Rowlands Guy, Earl Warw. 55 Why turn me back to conn my gear again. 1624Bedell Lett. vi. 101 No maruell if this geare could not passe the Presse at Rome. a1654Selden Table-T. (Arb.) 20 Lord, what Gear do they make of it! 1700Dryden Wife of Bath's T. 24 For priests with prayers and other godly gear, Have made the merry goblins disappear. 1722N. Mist Lett. fr. Mist's Jrnl. Pref. 12, I had a great deal more of this learned Gear from my Friend. 1875Tennyson Q. Mary iii. i, Have you had enough Of all this gear? 1895E. Anglian Gloss., Gere, unintelligible stuff; or a confused heap.
b. Doings, ‘goings on’. arch. or dial.
c1460Towneley Myst. xvi. 370 This is well wroght gere that euer may be. c1475Partenay 276 Non may on the trust, ne in thy fals gere. 1546St. Papers Hen. VIII, XI. 140 The French practises now a dayes be but bare geare to other mens practises. 1616R. C. Times' Whistle v. 1883 Brave boyes, this gear doth cotten well. 1652C. B. Stapylton Herodian iv. 31 Wee shall smart for this unruly geere. a1806K. White Childhood i. 119 To view our gambols, and our boyish geer. 1831Scott Cast. Dang. i, Then I hardly see how your ladyship can endure this gear much longer. 1876Whitby Gloss. s.v., He has now taken up with that kind of gear. 1881Mrs. E. Lynn Linton My Love I. 273 We shall have such fun!.. It will be good gear, I can tell you!
†c. A matter, affair, business. Obs.
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 57 You handle this gere in dede. 1579–80North Plutarch (1676) 160 Whilest this gere was a brewing. 1594Greene & Lodge Looking Gl. Wks. (Rtldg.) 126/1 Master Lawyer..I pray you to this gear. a1625Fletcher & Shirley Nt. Walker v. i, You wo' not to this geer of marriage then? 1636James Iter Lanc. (Chetham Soc.) 97 This worck, this gheere..Was done by daughters of great Charlemaine. 1823Scott Quentin D. xxxi, I under⁓stand this gear better than you do.
IV. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 6 b) gear-cutter, gear-cutting; (sense 7) gear-oil, gear-shaft, gear-sleeve, gear-work; gear-driven adj.; (sense 8) gear-block; (sense 9 b) gear-gatherer, gear-grasping; gear-box, -case, the case enclosing the gearing of a bicycle, motor vehicle, etc.; hence gear-box-less adj.; gear-change, (a) the action of changing gear; (b) = gear-lever; so gear-changing; gear-lever, the lever by means of which one changes gear; gear-pump, a pump in which liquid is drawn in by one gear-wheel and expelled by another gear-wheel in mesh with the first; gear ratio, the ratio between the rates at which the last and the first wheels of a train of gears rotate; gear-shift (orig. U.S.) = gear-lever; gear-wheel, (a) a cog-wheel; (b) in a bicycle, etc., the cog-wheel by means of which the motion of the pedals is transmitted to the axle.
1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 340 Lower yards filled with inventor's slings and portable *gear-blocks.
1887Visct. Bury & Hillier Cycling xiii. 385 Otherwise the effect of the same amount of resistance on each wheel will become unequally operative in the *gear-box. 1902W. W. Beaumont in A. C. Harmsworth et al. Motors x. 208 Many cars have..a secondary frame to which the motor and gear-box, &c., are attached. 1909Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 62/2 There is a centrifugal governor mounted on or driven from one of the rotating shafts behind the gear-box, and its speed of rotation is always in fixed relation to that of the road-wheels. 1957Times 2 July (Agric. Suppl.) p. viii/4 Other new features [of the Ferguson 35 tractor] include the six-speed gear-box.
1909Westm. Gaz. 14 Sept. 4/3 A *gear-box-less ‘Sheffield-Simplex’ car. 1963Bird & Hutton-Stott Veteran Motor Car 45, A 45 h.p. ‘gearbox-less’ car came on the market.
1896G. B. Shaw Let. 6 Mar. (1965) 608 Their net price, new, with *gear case, saddle &c, complete is {pstlg}25. 1897Daily News 16 Sept. 3/4 There was a black gear-case instead of a transparent one. 1902H. Sturmey in A. C. Harmsworth et al. Motors x. 206 The gear-case should be kept sufficiently full of lubricant to enable the lower edges of the gear wheels to be constantly passing through it.
1912Motor Man. (ed. 14) v. 169 (heading) A method for obtaining a ‘silent’ *gear change. 1955Times 5 July 5/7 The excellent gearchange..is effected by a short central lever. 1967Autocar 5 Oct. 73/3 With the gearchange switched from the left of the cockpit to the right.
1909Westm. Gaz. 23 Feb. 4/1 The beginner..can practise the art of *gear-changing on the hill.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Gear Cutter [a machine for cutting the teeth on gear-wheels].
1874Ibid., *Gear-cutting Machine, one for making cog⁓wheels by cutting out the interdental material.
1906Westm. Gaz. 26 Mar. 10/2 A *gear-driven car. 1906Daily Chron. 14 Nov. 9/3 The water circulates by a gear-driven pump.
1825–80Jamieson, *Gear-gatherer, a money-making man.
1819W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 40 He smasht and smote thae men o' sin For their *gear-graspin' greed.
1904Motor Man. (ed. 6) ix. 97 Put the *gear lever on to the next speed. a1951D. Stewart in Austral. Short. Stories (1951) 409 Placing his hand on her knee as, doubtless in error for the gear-lever, he so often does.
1910Blackw. Mag. Nov. 606/1 A black and glutinous compound, which I afterwards learned to recognise as *gear-oil.
1922Automobile Engineer Ref. Bk. 202/1 *Gear pump. 1933Rutherford in Proc. R. Soc. A. CXLI. 261 The plug..is cooled by a rapid stream of transformer oil supplied by a gear-pump through insulating tubes.
1909*Gear ratio [see top-drive s.v. top n.1 34]. 1915Young & Aston Complete Motorist (ed. 8) iii. 81 An arrangement of toothed pinions, which allow two, three or four different gear ratios to be employed as the case may be. 1959‘Motor’ Man. (ed. 36) iv. 74 The gear ratios usually quoted..take also into account the reduction in the final drive. Ibid. 91 Reference was made to an overdrive unit... Its purpose is to provide an extra gear ratio, higher than direct drive, so that quiet and economical cruising is possible.
1904A. B. F. Young Complete Motorist iii. 59 Different sets of gearing, by means of which the *gear shaft transmits its motion to the road wheels in different ratios. 1927Glasgow Herald 30 Nov. 11 The new model..will be of the standard selective gearshaft type.
1926Amer. Speech I. 686/2 American: *gear shift... English: change speed lever. 1959Observer 12 Apr. 3/3 The steering-column gear-shift..is partly cable-operated.
1908Westm. Gaz. 20 Nov. 4/2 It is arranged with divided *gear⁓sleeve to enable short shafts to be used.
1874Knight Dict. Mech., *Gear-wheel, any cog-wheel, whether crown, spur, internal-cogged, bevel, or lantern, is a gear-wheel. 1891Daily News 6 June 6/1 The engine is a two-cylinder horizontal one, and drives a gear-wheel. 1892Dublin Rev. Apr. 437 The mirror is fixed to a gear⁓wheel driven off the spindle of a small alternating electric motor.
1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 220 Occasioning the rapid destruction of the *gear-work through which the power is transmitted.
▸ fig.up a gear: at a higher level. Usu. in to move (also shift, step, etc.) up a gear and variants: to perform at, or move to, a higher level; to become more fervent or intense. Cf. top-gear n. (b) at top n.1 Compounds 3a.
1971Times 24 June 8/4 As Edrich, cutting well, prepared to move up a gear, he was out playing a ball from Michael Buss off his legs to Snow at square leg. 1977Washington Post (Nexis) 29 Dec. b1 What a break! Your career's up a gear and it's getting hot. 1993I. Welsh Trainspotting 74 We cannae really hurt each other or feel force on our fists or bodies. Too wasted. Mind you, ah step up a gear when ah sees the blood flowing fae my nose onto my bare chest, and ower the table. 2001Guardian 17 July i. 21/4 Competition in Britain's postal industry shifted up a gear yesterday.
▪ II. gear, v.|gɪə(r)|
Forms: 3–5 gere, 5 Sc. geir, 7–9 geer(e, (7 geare), 6– gear.
[ME. geren, f. gere gear n. (OE. had ᵹierwan, pret. ᵹierede to equip, clothe, f. OTeut. *garwu- ready, yare).]
†1. trans. To adorn; to array; to dress. Obs.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 2441 Osep dede hise lich faire geren, Wassen, and riche-like smeren, And spice-like swete smaken. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1568 He schal be gered ful gaye in gounes of porpre. c1350Parlt. 3 Ages 122 He was gerede all in grene. 1674–91Ray N.C. Words 30 To Geer or Gear, to dress. Snogly geered, neatly dressed.
2. To equip. arch.
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 791 Garytez ful gaye gered bi-twene, Wyth mony luflych loupe. 1456Sc. Acts Jas. II (1814) II. 45/2 It is ordanyt þt all maner of man þt has landis or gudis be redy horsit and geryt. 1833Fraser's Mag. VIII. 650 We accordingly geared ourself, and switch in hand..sallied out.
fig.1480Robt. Devyll (Percy Soc.) 56 He dyde helpe hym for to gere and fortefye the crysten fayth.
3. To harness (a draught animal). Also with up, and absol.
1638F. Junius Paint. Ancients 319 Paine of the painter..for it is no small trouble, in my opinion, to geare foure horses together, and not so much as to confound any of their legges. 1640G. Abbott Job Paraph. 248 Canst thou tether or geere him like a horse? 1649W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 197 The plough-man must have a little regard to his Teem or Draught, and to the well geering or ordering them. 1807Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 50 note, My sleds were such as are frequently seen about farmers' yards..in which two men were geared abreast. 1856C. W. Upham J. C. Frémont ii. 55 (Funk) We were ready to depart; the tents were struck, the mules geared up, and our horses saddled. 1877Holderness Gloss. s.v., It's about time we was off ti gear. 1886Chesh. Gloss., Gear or gear up, to put harness on a horse.
4. a. To put (machinery) into gear (see gear n. 7); to connect by gearing. Also fig., to adjust, correct or co-ordinate; spec. to adjust or adapt (something) to a particular system, situation, etc.; to bring into dependence, conformity or harmony; freq. in pass. to gear up (see quot. 1882); so to gear down, gear level.
1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 1184 Another feature in the machine is for gearing and pulling out of gear the cogs. 1868Pall Mall G. 15 July 10 The spindle is geared to a system of toothed wheelwork. 1879Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. 479 The several shafts, with their axes all parallel, are geared together. 1882Knowledge 10 Mar. 397/2 About two years since, most of the tricycles which were driven by means of a chain were geared up—that is, the driving wheels were made to go round faster than the pedals..Now, most of the best riders agree that tricycles should be geared down. 1883Ibid. 22 June 368/1 For average riders these [tricycles] might be geared level. 1895Daily News 15 May 7/4 Parts necessarily exposed for the purposes of cleaning, lubricating, gearing, or altering the arrangements of a machine. 1900J. London Let. 21 Jan. (1966) 85 The tongue is too often geared at too high a pitch to adequately carry on its labors. 1937Time 22 Feb. 26 That part of John Meade's Woman which is geared to these phenomena is an effectively written, well-photographed slice of U.S. industrial history. 1945Reader's Digest July 13/1 Every country's production had been geared to an intricate system of German demands and supplies. 1958Spectator 22 Aug. 249/1 This might have been effective in an entire [ballet] production geared to the Bolshoi interpretation. 1962Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 10 June 10 Authors', composers' and other royalties are often closely geared to recording rights. 1969Times 31 Jan. 11/8 The rate of the addition reaction is somehow geared to the rate of growth of the cell as a whole.
b. intr. Of a toothed wheel, or its teeth: To fit exactly into; to be in gear, so as to work smoothly with.
1734Phil. Trans. XXXVIII. No. 434 Engrav., The loose Wallowers, whose turn'd rounds geer truly with y⊇ Coggs in y⊇ great Wheel. 1848Tait's Mag. XV. 844 Carrying an angle-wheel, into which two others gear. 1870Eng. Mech. 18 Mar. 652/3 This bevel gears with a horizontal bevel underneath the base. 1881Anderson in Nature No. 626. 619 Two circular frames..with teeth cut in their edges, are mounted, so that the teeth gear into each other, and they can rotate freely, but in opposite directions.
▪ III. gear, a.
See gear n. 5 e.
▪ IV. gear(e
var. gere, Obs., whim, fit of passion. |