Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#GEARCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#GEAR gere, a borrowing from Old NorseCategory:English terms derived from Old Norse#GEAR gervi, from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#GEAR *garwijaną (“to prepare”). See also adjective yare, yar from the same root via Old English.

Pronunciation

• (non-rhotic)
  • (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɪə/, [ˈɡɪə]Category:English 1-syllable words#GEARCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#GEAR

    • Audio (Australia):

      (file)

      Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#GEAR
  • (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈɡiə/, [ˈɡiə]Category:English 1-syllable words#GEARCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#GEAR
  • (East Anglia, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛː/, [ˈɡɛː]Category:English 1-syllable words#GEARCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#GEAR
• (rhotic)
  • (General American, Standard Canadian) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɪɚ/, [ˈɡɪɚ] ~ [ˈɡɪɹ̩]Category:English 2-syllable words#GEARCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#GEAR
  • (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈɡi(ː)ɹ/, [ˈɡi(ː)ɹ]Category:English 1-syllable words#GEARCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#GEAR
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)Category:Rhymes:English/ɪə(ɹ)#GEARCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪə(ɹ)/1 syllable#GEAR
• Hyphenation: gear

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

gear

Wikipedia

gear (countable and uncountable, plural gears)Category:English lemmas#GEARCategory:English nouns#GEARCategory:English uncountable nouns#GEARCategory:English countable nouns#GEARCategory:English countable nouns#GEARCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#GEARCategory:Pages with entries#GEARCategory:Pages with 5 entries#GEAR

1. (uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#GEAR) Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.
2. Clothing; garments.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 26:

     Aray thy selfe in her most gorgeous geare

     Category:English terms with quotations#GEAR

   • 1990, “(I'm Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica”, in Tom Lehrer (music), The Remains of Tom Lehrer, performed by Tom Lehrer, published 2000:

     Those Eastern winters, ⁠I can't endure 'em / So every year I pack my gear and come out here till Purim / Rosh Hashanah, I spend in Arizona

     Category:English terms with quotations#GEAR

3. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#GEAR) Goods; property; household items.
   • 1551, Thomas More, “(please specify the Internet Archive page)”, in Raphe Robynson [i.e., Ralph Robinson], transl., A Fruteful, and Pleasaunt Worke of the Best State of a Publyque Weale, and of the Newe Yle Called Utopia: […], London: […] [Steven Mierdman for] Abraham Vele, […], →OCLC:

     Homely gear and common ware.

     Category:English terms with quotations#GEAR

5. (countableCategory:English countable nouns#GEAR) A wheel, wheel segment, or bar with grooves (teeth) engraved on the outer circumference, such that two such devices can interlock and convey motion from one to the other.

   Near-synonyms: (wheel types) cog, cogwheel, gear wheel, gearwheel

7. (countableCategory:English countable nouns#GEAR, automotiveCategory:en:Automotive#GEAR, cyclingCategory:en:Cycling#GEAR) A particular combination or choice of interlocking gears, such that a particular gear ratio is achieved; often selected via a shifter.
   1. (countableCategory:English countable nouns#GEAR, automotiveCategory:en:Automotive#GEAR) A configuration of the transmission of a motor car so as to achieve a particular ratio of engine to axle torque.
8. (aviationCategory:en:Aviation#GEAR) Ellipsis of landing gearCategory:English ellipses#GEAR.

   gear-up landingCategory:English terms with usage examples#GEAR

   Get the gear down quick!Category:English terms with usage examples#GEAR

9. (uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#GEAR, slangCategory:English slang#GEAR) Recreational drugs, including steroids.

   getting on gearCategory:English terms with collocations#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."

     Category:English terms with quotations#GEAR

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
10. (uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#GEAR, archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#GEAR) 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.Category:English terms with quotations#GEAR

11. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#GEAR) Business matters; affairs; concern.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30:

      goe they both together to their geare.

      Category:English terms with quotations#GEAR

12. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#GEAR, UKCategory:British English#GEAR, dialectCategory:English dialectal terms#GEAR) 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.Category:English terms with quotations#GEAR

Verb

gear (third-person singular simple present gears, present participle gearing, simple past and past participle geared)Category:English lemmas#GEARCategory:English verbs#GEARCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#GEARCategory:Pages with entries#GEARCategory:Pages with 5 entries#GEAR

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes, then please add them!

Category:Requests for quotations in English#GEAR

1. (engineeringCategory:en:Engineering#GEAR, transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#GEAR) To provide with gearing; to fit with gears in order to achieve a desired gear ratio.
2. (engineeringCategory:en:Engineering#GEAR, intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#GEAR) 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.Category:English terms with usage examples#GEAR

   They have geared the hotel mainly at tourists.Category:English terms with usage examples#GEAR

5. (financeCategory:en:Finance#GEAR) To borrow money in order to invest it in assets.

Adjective

gear (comparative more gear, superlative most gear)Category:English lemmas#GEARCategory:English adjectives#GEARCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#GEARCategory:Pages with entries#GEARCategory:Pages with 5 entries#GEAR

1. (chiefly LiverpoolCategory:Liverpudlian English#GEAR) great or fantastic

Anagrams

• Ager, GRAE, Gera, Rega, ager, areg, gare, rage

Alternative forms

• geayr, geyre

Etymology 1

From Old IrishCategory:Manx terms inherited from Old Irish#GEARCategory:Manx terms derived from Old Irish#GEAR gáirid.

Etymology 2

From Middle IrishCategory:Manx terms inherited from Middle Irish#GEARCategory:Manx terms derived from Middle Irish#GEAR gér, from Old IrishCategory:Manx terms inherited from Old Irish#GEARCategory:Manx terms derived from Old Irish#GEAR gér.

Mutation

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “gér”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Alternative forms

• ġēr — Late West Saxon, Anglian, late Kentish
• ġǣr — early Kentish

Etymology

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Jērą

Wikipedia

From Proto-West GermanicCategory:Old English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#GEARCategory:Old English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#GEAR *jār, from Proto-GermanicCategory:Old English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#GEARCategory:Old English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#GEAR *jērą, from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:Old English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#GEAR *yeh₁r-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jæ͜ɑːr/Category:Old English terms with IPA pronunciation#GEAR
• Rhymes: -æ͜ɑːrCategory:Rhymes:Old English/æ͜ɑːr#GEARCategory:Rhymes:Old English/æ͜ɑːr/1 syllable#GEAR

Noun

ġēar nCategory:Old English lemmas#GEARCategory:Old English nouns#GEARCategory:Old English entries with incorrect language header#GEARCategory:Old English neuter nouns#GEARCategory:Pages with entries#GEARCategory:Pages with 5 entries#GEAR (West SaxonCategory:West Saxon Old English#GEAR)

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...

     Category:Old English terms with quotations#GEAR

   • c. 9-12 CE, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

     Þis wæs fēorþes ġēares his rīċes

     This was in the fourth year of his reign.

     Category:Old English terms with quotations#GEAR

   • 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...

     Category:Old English terms with quotations#GEAR

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.

     Category:Old English terms with quotations#GEAR

3. (good) harvest
4. the runic character ᛄCategory:Undetermined terms with redundant script codes#GEAR (/j/)
   • The Old English rune poem

     ᛄ byþ gumena hiht þon God lǣteþ...

     Spring is the hope of men when God...

     Category:Old English terms with quotations#GEAR

Etymology

From an Old Galician-PortugueseCategory:Portuguese terms inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese#GEARCategory:Portuguese terms derived from Old Galician-Portuguese#GEAR *gear (compare geo), from LatinCategory:Portuguese terms inherited from Latin#GEARCategory:Portuguese terms derived from Latin#GEAR gelāre. Doublet of the borrowing gelarCategory:Portuguese doublets#GEAR. Compare also Galician xear.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ge‧ar

Verb

gear (impersonal, third-person singular present geia, third-person singular preterite geou, past participle geado)Category:Portuguese lemmas#GEARCategory:Portuguese verbs#GEARCategory:Portuguese verbs ending in -ar#GEARCategory:Portuguese impersonal verbs#GEARCategory:Portuguese verbs with e becoming ei when stressed#GEARCategory:Portuguese entries with incorrect language header#GEARCategory:Pages with entries#GEARCategory:Pages with 5 entries#GEAR

1. (impersonalCategory:Portuguese impersonal verbs#GEAR) to frost (weather)

Further reading

• “gear”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “gear”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)Category:Requests for etymologies in West Frisian entries#GEAR

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɪə̯r/Category:West Frisian terms with IPA pronunciation#GEAR

Adverb

gearCategory:West Frisian lemmas#GEARCategory:West Frisian adverbs#GEARCategory:West Frisian entries with incorrect language header#GEARCategory:Pages with entries#GEARCategory:Pages with 5 entries#GEAR

1. together