"fourth gear" meaning in English

See fourth gear in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: fourth gears [plural]
Etymology: The figurative sense reflects that in some times and places, fourth gear was the highest gear that a car could achieve; compare French en quatrième vitesse. Etymology templates: {{cog|fr|en quatrième vitesse}} French en quatrième vitesse Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} fourth gear (countable and uncountable, plural fourth gears)
  1. The fourth of the available gears in a transmission or other gearbox. Tags: countable, uncountable Synonyms: fourth Related terms: downshift, upshift Translations (fourth gear of an engine): czwarty bieg [masculine] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-fourth_gear-en-noun-h5nG-8Yj Coordinate_terms: low gear, first gear, second gear, third gear, fifth gear, ;, top gear, overdrive, ;, angel gear, neutral Disambiguation of 'fourth gear of an engine': 90 10
  2. (idiomatic, dated) A maximal level of effort. Tags: countable, dated, idiomatic, uncountable Synonyms: top gear, overdrive, ;, full throttle
    Sense id: en-fourth_gear-en-noun-30SrPWWq Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 44 56 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 39 61 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 26 74 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 17 83 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 22 78

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "en quatrième vitesse"
      },
      "expansion": "French en quatrième vitesse",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The figurative sense reflects that in some times and places, fourth gear was the highest gear that a car could achieve; compare French en quatrième vitesse.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fourth gears",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "fourth gear (countable and uncountable, plural fourth gears)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "low gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "first gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "second gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "third gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "fifth gear"
        },
        {
          "word": ";"
        },
        {
          "word": "top gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "overdrive"
        },
        {
          "word": ";"
        },
        {
          "word": "angel gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "neutral"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The fourth of the available gears in a transmission or other gearbox."
      ],
      "id": "en-fourth_gear-en-noun-h5nG-8Yj",
      "links": [
        [
          "gear",
          "gear"
        ],
        [
          "transmission",
          "transmission"
        ],
        [
          "gearbox",
          "gearbox"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "89 11",
          "word": "downshift"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "89 11",
          "word": "upshift"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "fourth"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "90 10",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "fourth gear of an engine",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "czwarty bieg"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "44 56",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "39 61",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "26 74",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 83",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "22 78",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              46,
              57
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2009, Madhu Jain, The Kapoors: The First Family of Indian Cinema, page 243:",
          "text": "During the seventies, Shashi Kapoor went into fourth gear in Bollywood, while Merchant and Ivory made a slew of films, many of which were not set in India.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              179,
              190
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2014, Paul Monette, The Gold Diggers: A Novel:",
          "text": "After all, he did the very same thing, pool and lunch, every Friday afternoon for five months—Friday perfect because it gave his cock a rest before the weekend, when it went into fourth gear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A maximal level of effort."
      ],
      "id": "en-fourth_gear-en-noun-30SrPWWq",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, dated) A maximal level of effort."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "top gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "overdrive"
        },
        {
          "word": ";"
        },
        {
          "word": "full throttle"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "dated",
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "fourth gear"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Polish translations"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "en quatrième vitesse"
      },
      "expansion": "French en quatrième vitesse",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The figurative sense reflects that in some times and places, fourth gear was the highest gear that a car could achieve; compare French en quatrième vitesse.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fourth gears",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "fourth gear (countable and uncountable, plural fourth gears)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "downshift"
    },
    {
      "word": "upshift"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "low gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "first gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "second gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "third gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "fifth gear"
        },
        {
          "word": ";"
        },
        {
          "word": "top gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "overdrive"
        },
        {
          "word": ";"
        },
        {
          "word": "angel gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "neutral"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The fourth of the available gears in a transmission or other gearbox."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "gear",
          "gear"
        ],
        [
          "transmission",
          "transmission"
        ],
        [
          "gearbox",
          "gearbox"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "fourth"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English dated terms",
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              46,
              57
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2009, Madhu Jain, The Kapoors: The First Family of Indian Cinema, page 243:",
          "text": "During the seventies, Shashi Kapoor went into fourth gear in Bollywood, while Merchant and Ivory made a slew of films, many of which were not set in India.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              179,
              190
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2014, Paul Monette, The Gold Diggers: A Novel:",
          "text": "After all, he did the very same thing, pool and lunch, every Friday afternoon for five months—Friday perfect because it gave his cock a rest before the weekend, when it went into fourth gear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A maximal level of effort."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, dated) A maximal level of effort."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "top gear"
        },
        {
          "word": "overdrive"
        },
        {
          "word": ";"
        },
        {
          "word": "full throttle"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "dated",
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "fourth gear of an engine",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "czwarty bieg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fourth gear"
}

Download raw JSONL data for fourth gear meaning in English (2.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (96027d6 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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