The Collaborative International Dictionary
Change gear \Change gear\ (Mach.) A gear by means of which the speed of machinery or of a vehicle may be changed while that of the propelling engine or motor remains constant; -- called also change-speed gear.
Usage examples of "change gear".
Apart from the fact that the man was barely conscious, he had to drive with one hand only, having to take his hand off the wheel to change gear, using the other hand to hold a blood-saturated handkerchief against his shattered face.
About three o'clock in the morning, still following the flag trail that stretched out interminably before us in the long rake of the headlights, we felt the tractor slow down and Jackstraw, who was driving at the time, change gear as we entered on the first gentle slope of the long foothills that led to the winding pass that cut the Vindeby Nunataks almost exactly in half.
We were about half-way across when we heard the engine change gear, the high unmistakable whine of the tractor beginning to overrun its engine.
As it had been made in Coventry, England, and not as an export car, the driver's wheel was on the right, which caused an occasional problem in passing but allowed him to change gear with the left hand and hold the shuddering steering wheel in the right hand, which he had come to prefer.
Each time I twisted, each time I moved my right arm to change gear, I thought I might throw up.
Then she waved her hand around the steering column to grasp the column change gear shift.
Ermintrude would start as soon as she woke up, change gear so that she could hear herself speak above the eight o'clock news, and continue unabated until Osbert thankfully left for work.
Surely, he thought, there must be a better way to change gear-ratios than the traditional one, which involved dismantling almost the entire gear-box.
He smashed into and over a parked motorcycle, got the car back on the road, and at last found a split second in which to change gear.