properlymeans “dress.” In machinery, the bands and wheels that communicate motion to the working part are called the gearing. (Saxon, gearwa, clothing.)
In good gear. To be in good working order.
Out of gear. Not in working condition, when the “gearing” does not act properly; out of health.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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