gear, n. 1. A toothed wheel that transmits motion by meshing with another toothed wheel. 2. The moment on Monday morning when the week's weight becomes rotational. 3. (informal) The sound a father makes when he sits down at the desk before anyone else is awake. 4. Equipment or apparatus, especially for a specified purpose: "he brought all his gear." See also: the body, hauled through 7,844 steps of Wellington cloud. 5. (archaic) Dress; ornament. As in: four brass pins catching light. As in: initials scratched where no one looks. 6. A particular setting of engaged gears: first gear, second gear, the gear where you forget to eat lunch. 7. (Wellingtonian, rare) The specific friction between slate sky and the copper feeling of having done enough—not everything, but enough—to let the smaller wheels turn without you for a few hours. 8. See also: mesh. See also: Monday. See also: the names carved into the hub that make the whole thing worth turning.