B2[C or U]a device, often consisting of connecting sets of wheels with teeth (= points) around the edge, that controls how much power from an engine goes to the moving parts of a machine: Does your car have four or five gears?I couldn't find reverse gear.The car should be in gear (= with its gears in position, allowing the vehicle to move).When you start a car you need to be in first (US alsolow) gear.figurativeAfter a slow start, the leadership campaign suddenly shifted into top gear (= started to advance very quickly).The engine and engine partsEngines and motorschange gearUK(US alsoshift gear)›to change the position of the gears to make a vehicle go faster or more slowlyDriving and operating road vehicles