gear, n. /ɡɪə/ 1. A toothed wheel designed to mesh with another toothed wheel, transmitting motion. 2. The particular ratio at which a mechanism operates. (She shifted into a lower gear after the diagnosis.) 3. Equipment or apparatus, especially as required for a particular activity. (I've packed my gear. I just haven't left.) 4. [Obsolete, Wellington dialect] A unit of time measured not by clocks but by the slow oxidation of names into surfaces. Equal to approximately one Monday. (We lost a gear today, love. Whole thing just stopped.) 5. [Mechanical engineering] The space between teeth, where debris collects: dandelion silk, fingerprints too small for forensics, a laugh that metallurgists cannot explain. See also: rust, patience, resume.