"reverse gear" meaning in English

See reverse gear in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: reverse gears [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} reverse gear (countable and uncountable, plural reverse gears), {{tlb|en|mechanical engineering}} (mechanical engineering)
  1. A gear (setting) in a vehicle's transmission which, when selected, makes the vehicle move backward. (Denoted with symbol R on a shifter's labeling.) Wikidata QID: Q2203464 Tags: countable, uncountable Synonyms: reverse, reversing gear Hypernyms: gear Translations (gear (setting) in a vehicle's transmission): Rückwärtsgang [masculine] (German)
    Sense id: en-reverse_gear-en-noun-en:Q2203464 Topics: engineering, mechanical, mechanical-engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences Disambiguation of "gear (setting) in a vehicle's transmission": 83 17
  2. A gear fitted to a machine which allows it to run in the direction opposite to normal operation. Tags: countable, uncountable Synonyms: reversing gear
    Sense id: en-reverse_gear-en-noun-ByNgjDVo Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with German translations, Mechanical engineering Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 35 65 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 30 70 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 32 68 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 29 71 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 24 76 Disambiguation of Mechanical engineering: 42 58 Topics: engineering, mechanical, mechanical-engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "reverse gears",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "reverse gear (countable and uncountable, plural reverse gears)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "mechanical engineering"
      },
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      "name": "tlb"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonym: reversing gear"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              16
            ]
          ],
          "text": "The reverse gear of a Ford Model T was engaged with a foot pedal.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              0,
              12
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1962 April, “Beyond the Channel: Western Germany: The Henschel 4,000 h.p. V320 diesel”, in Modern Railways, page 274:",
          "text": "Reverse gear, air-operated, is incorporated in the transmission.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              65,
              77
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2021 October 6, Paul Stephen, “Network News: Labour: build HS2 and NPR and end \"paper promises\"”, in RAIL, number 941, page 25:",
          "text": "It's a chance to get transport investment in this country out of reverse gear - a chance to end paper promises.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A gear (setting) in a vehicle's transmission which, when selected, makes the vehicle move backward. (Denoted with symbol R on a shifter's labeling.)"
      ],
      "hypernyms": [
        {
          "word": "gear"
        }
      ],
      "id": "en-reverse_gear-en-noun-en:Q2203464",
      "links": [
        [
          "transmission",
          "transmission"
        ],
        [
          "backward",
          "backward"
        ],
        [
          "R",
          "R#English"
        ]
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:Q2203464"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "reverse"
        },
        {
          "word": "reversing gear"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "engineering",
        "mechanical",
        "mechanical-engineering",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "83 17",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "gear (setting) in a vehicle's transmission",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Rückwärtsgang"
        }
      ],
      "wikidata": [
        "Q2203464"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "35 65",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "30 70",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "32 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "29 71",
          "kind": "other",
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "42 58",
          "kind": "other",
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          "orig": "en:Mechanical engineering",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonym: reversing gear"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              21,
              33
            ]
          ],
          "text": "This old lathe has a reverse gear, but it wouldn't be used under most conditions, and in fact its use is unsafe under most conditions because the chuck is attached with nothing but a right-hand screw thread!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A gear fitted to a machine which allows it to run in the direction opposite to normal operation."
      ],
      "id": "en-reverse_gear-en-noun-ByNgjDVo",
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "reversing gear"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "engineering",
        "mechanical",
        "mechanical-engineering",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "reverse 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 German translations",
    "en:Mechanical engineering"
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  "forms": [
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      "form": "reverse gears",
      "tags": [
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          "text": "Near-synonym: reversing gear"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              16
            ]
          ],
          "text": "The reverse gear of a Ford Model T was engaged with a foot pedal.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              0,
              12
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1962 April, “Beyond the Channel: Western Germany: The Henschel 4,000 h.p. V320 diesel”, in Modern Railways, page 274:",
          "text": "Reverse gear, air-operated, is incorporated in the transmission.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              65,
              77
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2021 October 6, Paul Stephen, “Network News: Labour: build HS2 and NPR and end \"paper promises\"”, in RAIL, number 941, page 25:",
          "text": "It's a chance to get transport investment in this country out of reverse gear - a chance to end paper promises.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A gear (setting) in a vehicle's transmission which, when selected, makes the vehicle move backward. (Denoted with symbol R on a shifter's labeling.)"
      ],
      "hypernyms": [
        {
          "word": "gear"
        }
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "transmission",
          "transmission"
        ],
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          "backward",
          "backward"
        ],
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        ]
      ],
      "senseid": [
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      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "reverse"
        },
        {
          "word": "reversing gear"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "engineering",
        "mechanical",
        "mechanical-engineering",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences"
      ],
      "wikidata": [
        "Q2203464"
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    },
    {
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        "English terms with usage examples"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonym: reversing gear"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              21,
              33
            ]
          ],
          "text": "This old lathe has a reverse gear, but it wouldn't be used under most conditions, and in fact its use is unsafe under most conditions because the chuck is attached with nothing but a right-hand screw thread!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A gear fitted to a machine which allows it to run in the direction opposite to normal operation."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "reversing gear"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
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        "engineering",
        "mechanical",
        "mechanical-engineering",
        "natural-sciences",
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      ]
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  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "gear (setting) in a vehicle's transmission",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Rückwärtsgang"
    }
  ],
  "word": "reverse gear"
}

Download raw JSONL data for reverse gear meaning in English (2.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-02-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.