different between gear vs wheal

English

Etymology

From Middle English gere, a borrowing from Old Norse gervi, from Proto-Germanic *garwijan? (“to prepare”). See also adjective yare, yar from the same root via Old English.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: gîr, IPA^(key): /???(?)/
• (US) enPR: gîr, IPA^(key): /???/
• Rhymes: -??(r)

Noun

gear (countable and uncountable, plural gears)

1. (uncountable) Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.
2. Clothing; garments.
3. (obsolete) Goods; property; household items.

   • 1551, Ralph Robinson (sometimes spelt Raphe Robynson) (translator), Utopia (originally written by Sir Thomas More)

4. (countable) A wheel with grooves (teeth) engraved on the outer circumference, such that two such devices can interlock and convey motion from one to the other; a gear wheel.

   Synonyms: cog, cogwheel, gearwheel

5. (countable, automotive, cycling) A particular combination or choice of interlocking gears, such that a particular gear ratio is achieved.
6. (countable, automotive) A configuration of the transmission of a motor car so as to achieve a particular ratio of engine to axle torque.
7. (aviation) Ellipsis of landing gear.

8. (slang) Recreational drugs, including steroids.
   • 2003, Marianne Hancock, Looking for Oliver (page 90)

9. (uncountable, archaic) Stuff.
   • 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book III, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 113:

10. (obsolete) Business matters; affairs; concern.
11. (obsolete, Britain, dialect) Anything worthless; nonsense; rubbish.
    • (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)
    • March 29, 1549, Hugh Latimer, the fourth sermon preached before King Edward

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

gear (third-person singular simple present gears, present participle gearing, simple past and past participle geared)

1. (engineering, transitive) To provide with gearing; to fit with gears in order to achieve a desired gear ratio.
2. (engineering, intransitive) To be in, or 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.

   They have geared the hotel mainly at tourists.

5. (finance) To borrow money in order to invest it in assets.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

gear (comparative more gear, superlative most gear)

1. (chiefly Liverpudlian) great or fantastic

Anagrams

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

Manx

Alternative forms

• geayr, geyre

Etymology

From Old Irish gér.

Verb

gear (verbal noun gearey)

1. to laugh, chuckle

Adjective

gear

1. sharp, keen
2. sour, acid

Further reading

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

Old English

Alternative forms

• ??r, ??r – Anglian

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *j?r?, from Proto-Indo-European *yeh?r-. Cognate with Old Frisian j?r (West Frisian jier), Old Saxon j?r (Middle Low German jâr), Dutch jaar, Old High German j?r (German Jahr), Old Norse ár (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish år, Icelandic/Faroese ár), Gothic ???????????? (j?r). The Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek ??? (h?ra, “season”), Russian ??? (jara), Czech jaro, Lithuanian jore (“springtime”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jæ???r/

Noun

??ar n (nominative plural ??ar)

1. year
2. the runic character ? (/j/)

Declension

Derived terms

• ??ardagas
• ??arl??
• ?e?ra (uncertain)

Descendants

• Middle English: yeer, here, yere, ?ere
  • English: year
  • Scots: year

Portuguese

Etymology

From an Old Portuguese *gear (compare geo), from Latin gel?re, present active infinitive of gel?. Doublet of the borrowing gelar. Compare also Galician xear.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?i?a?]

Verb

gear (first-person singular present indicative geio, past participle geado)

1. (impersonal) to frost (weather)

Conjugation

Related terms

West Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /????r/

Adverb

gear

1. together

Further reading

• “gear (III)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?l, IPA^(key): /wi?l/

Rhymes: -i?l

• Homophones: weal, we'll (in accents with the wine-whine merger)
• Homophone: wheel

Etymology 1

From Middle English whele (“boil”), from Old English *hwele (“boil”); related to Old English hwelian (“to fester, ulcerate”). Compare also Old English hwelca, hwylca (“an inflamed swelling, pustule”).

Noun

wheal (plural wheals)

1. A small raised swelling on the skin, often itchy, caused by a blow from a whip or an insect bite etc.

Synonyms

• (small raised swelling on the skin): wale, weal, welt

Translations

Verb

wheal (third-person singular simple present wheals, present participle whealing, simple past and past participle whealed)

1. (uncommon) Synonym of wale.

Etymology 2

From Cornish hwel.

Noun

wheal (plural wheals)

1. (Britain, dialect, Cornwall, mining) A mine.
   • 1829, Thomas Moore, The History of Devonshire, page 528,

     The four last-mentioned mines, Wheal Crowndale, Wheal Crebor, East Liscombe, and Wheal Tamar, are on the same lode, which ranges as usual from east to west, and are included in a space of about four miles in length.

   • 2003, Peter Long, The Hidden Places of Cornwall, page 85,

     Surrounding the village are the remains ot many mine workings including the picturesque gtoup of clifftop buildings thar were once part of one of the county's best known mines - Wheal Coares.

   • 2010, Julia Bradbury, Julia Bradbury's Railway Walks, page 27,

     If you look at the map there are ‘wheals’ all over the place. There's Wheal Rose, Wheal Plenty and Wheal Busy. Back on the tramroad the industrial communities come thick and fast as you head southeast to Wheal Rose.

Usage notes

Chiefly appears in the names of mines in Cornwall and Devon.

References

• wheal at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Whale, whale