Word.ws English Dictionary

give someone the gears

give someone the gears verb: to scold or criticize someone.

Verb

give someone the gears (third-person singular simple present gives someone the gears, present participle giving someone the gears, simple past gave someone the gears, past participle given someone the gears)

  1. (Canada, slang) To scold or criticize someone.
    • Then Mr. Melnyk pointed out that we probably wouldn't have electricity. Someone else said she'd take a blanket so she could sleep and stay warm. Then a guy asked if he could share it. Mr. Melnyk gave him the gears […]2014, Dianne Linden, Peacekeepers

Forms of give someone the gears

third-person singular presentgives someone the gears
present participlegiving someone the gears
pastgave someone the gears
past participlegiven someone the gears

Questions about give someone the gears

What does give someone the gears mean?
Give someone the gears means to scold or criticize someone.
What part of speech is give someone the gears?
Give someone the gears is a verb.
What is the past tense of give someone the gears?
The past tense of give someone the gears is gave someone the gears.

Words near give someone the gears in the dictionary

  1. give someone the business
  2. give someone the chair
  3. give someone the cold shoulder
  4. give someone the creeps
  5. give someone the eye
  6. give someone the gears
  7. give someone the heave-ho
  8. give someone the lie in their throat
  9. give someone the mitten
  10. give someone the old heave-ho
  11. give someone the runaround

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: give someone the gears (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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