running gearn.
/ˈrʌnɪŋ ˌɡɪə/, U.S. /ˈrənɪŋ ˌɡɪ(ə)r/ Originally North American.
1.
a. The moving parts of a mill or other piece of machinery. Also in plural in same sense.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > [noun] > other specific parts
armOE
button?1561
running gear1663
relax1676
collar1678
drumhead1698
long arm1717
drum1744
press cloth1745
head1785
absorber1789
bearing plate1794
crown1796
rhodings1805
press box1825
alternator1829
cushion1832
saw tooth1835
shoe1837
keyboard1839
returner1839
cross-head1844
channel shoe1845
baster1846
water port1864
shifter1869
magazine1873
entry port1874
upsetter1875
mechanism1876
tapper1876
tension bar1879
buttonholer1882
take-up1884
auger1886
instrument panel1897
balancer1904
torsion bar1937
powerhead1960
1663 in Rec. East-Hampton, N.Y. (1887) I. 201 Mr Backer shall have seven pounds for this yeare for tendinge the mill and maintayninge the runninge geares that is coggs and rounds.
1725 New Eng. Courant 18–25 Jan. 2/2 The Wind…carry'd off the Top of the Mill, with the Shaft, Vanes, and running Geer, and brake them to Pieces.
1785 G. Washington Memorandum 23 May in Papers (1994) Confederation Ser. III. 11 He is..to attend to the running Gears, & every part of the said Mill, securing Gudgeons, putting in Coggs and Rounds, & such other Jobs as are usual & customary for Millers to do.
1834 Hampshire Tel. & Sussex Chron. 31 Mar. (advt.) To be sold by auction... A substantial brick-built windmill, driving two pair of stones, with running gear in complete repair.
1901 S. Merwin & H. K. Webster Calumet ‘K’ xiv. 262 Down in the cellar putting in the running gear for the ‘cross-the-house conveyors’.
1918 Southwestern Reporter 203 786/1 Sid Tomme had his hand caught in the running gear of the planing machine.
1986 Daily Tel. (Sydney) (Nexis) 15 Aug. The mishap occurred when the running gear of a crane slipped while lifting a 240-tonne slab rolling machine from the ship.
2003 R. Smith & R. K. Mobley Industr. Machinery Repair vi. 118 A turbine must be supported by auxiliary running gear during startup or shutdown.
b. figurative. Now rare.
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1853 N.-Y. Daily Times 9 July 4/4 We know of no one of the Central party who is better fitted..to direct, with all economy, the running gear of the Government.
1891 Med. Standard Mar. 105/1 Man's anatomy is the running gear of a magnificent machine, and his physiology simply the practical use of that machine.
1917 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 23 151 No member getting a success which forces the team to carry him as dead weight, not to say as grit in its running gear.
2.
a. The wheels and axles of a cart, carriage, railway locomotive, motor vehicle, etc.; (also) the wheels and axles of a vehicle together with its suspension, steering mechanism, etc. Also in plural in same sense.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > axles and suspension of
running gear1805
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > parts of cart or carriage > [noun] > wheels and axles
running gear1805
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > steering, suspension, or wheels
running gear1900
1805 J. Sansom Lett. from Europe I. i. 10 Our old post-chariot, the running gear of which had been sadly dislocated by the stony ruts of the Bourdeaux road.
1831 Niles' Reg. 5 Nov. 197/2 It is evident that the durability of the road and of cars, and especially of the wheels, would be promoted by the use of springs interposed between the load and the running gear.
1857 ‘Porte Crayon’ Virginia Illustr. 230 A shadowy group was dimly visible, a carriage mounted on the running-gear of a wagon, and drawn by four horses.
1900 Motor World 8 Nov. 100/1 The motor is located centrally of the vehicle, and is hung on the upper section of the running frame, which is spring supported from the main tubular running gear.
1923 Dial. Notes 5 208 Runnin' gears, Those portions of a wagon other than the box or bed.
1924 F. R. Bechdolt Tales Old-timers 363 The boy was driving a span of horses hitched to the running-gear of a lumber-wagon.
1948 E. N. Dick Dixie Frontier xix. 208 The driver..fastened a big deep box on the axle or the front wheels of a wagon running-gear.
1989 R. Banks Affliction iii. 35 It was a four-wheel-drive Ford with extra-long shackles that kicked the body high off the running gear.
2002 A. H. Cordesman Peace & War iii. 77 The T-55MV [tank]..has upgraded running gear, a Volna computerized fire control system, and napalm protection.
b. U.S. regional and humorous. Chiefly in plural. The legs of an animal or (occasionally) person.
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1900 T. A. McNeal Fables 213 A lean, ill-favored Arkansaw hazel-splitter [i.e. a hog], which had not..fat enough in its entire system to grease the running-gears of a katydid.
1935 J. Conroy World to Win 12 Y'all must 've swapped runnin' gears wid a shitepoke and got hornswaggled outen de butt!
1953 V. Randolph & G. P. Wilson Down in Holler viii. 184 When an airplane crashed and burned, my neighbor viewed the wreckage. ‘It looks like the runnin'-gears of a grasshopper,’ said he.
1958 F. E. Ward Cowboy at Work (2003) xv. 140 Observing his [sc. the horse's] long narrow head, glassy eyes, pin ears, narrow chest, ewe neck and long running gears.
1994 C. McCarthy Crossing 320 I could eat the runnin gears of a bull moose, he said.
2006 L. Crawford 1605 31 Ann has legs like the running gears of a katydid.
3. The adjustable rope and tackle used in handling (part of) a boat; = running rigging n. at running adj. Compounds 3b.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > rigging > [noun] > running rigging
running rigging1653
running gear1824
1824 J. F. Cooper Pilot III. ix. 230 ‘He has cut some of our running gear,’ said the master, whose eye had never ceased to dwell on the spars and rigging of the ship.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. iii. 48 We can burn hemp cable and cast-off running-gear.
1883 Great Internat. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 10 Bridles, Dandies..Hauling Lines, and Running Gear.
1938 Life 19 Sept. 67 (caption) The brigantine-rigged Isobel III has over 40 pieces of running gear.
1999 C. Orsman South 4 She was lightly sparred, with running gear well-rove and cunningly led.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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