second gear

second gear

One of the lower gears in a motor vehicle; it prioritizes torque over speed. The term is most often associated with manual transmission vehicles, in which one must shift the gears manually while driving. The car will drive better if you keep it in second gear while towing the boat. Shift into second gear so that we don't come flying down this steep hill!
See also: gear, second
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • stick shift
  • you only live once
  • YOLO
  • it's better to ask forgiveness than permission
  • man of action
  • a man/woman/person of action
  • work smarter, not harder
  • brute force and (bloody) ignorance
  • ignorance
  • Mexican overdrive
References in periodicals archive
turn it So vast was the chasm that City barely needed to get out of second gear to deliver a thrashing Simon Bajkowski
The magnitude of the response at the second gear mesh harmonic frequency was reported to be the highest as compared with the magnitudes of other frequency components [30].
In most cases, it is the second gear that proves to be most versatile.
We never got out of second gear "When you play Argentina, tempo, pace and intensity are important but there is no doubt their experience and exposure to the Rugby Championship has taken that Argentina side to another level.
Having scraped into the match-play stages on the cut-off mark Pugh demolished first opponent Joshua White of Chipstead 6&4 without having to get out of second gear. Then the teenager overcame Argentinian Franco Romero by 4&2.
Chester rarely had to get out of second gear against the side who lie next to bottom in the league.
I never had to move out of second gear and am pleased with how I fought."
NEWCASTLE RES 0 VILLA RES 0 VILLA'S second string were stuck in second gear against Newcastle yesterday in a drab goalless draw which saw the visitors manage just one shot on target.
Place the second gear on the board so its teeth lock into the teeth of the first gear.
The company has set up a second gear testing and analysis rig for polymer and metal gears at the Applied Technology Center at its headquarters in Thornton Clevelys.
The 3-speed transmission with high-low gearbox gave speeds of 2.3 mph in first gear, 3.63 mph in second gear, 5.80 mph in third gear and 1.66 mph in reverse (all in low range), and in high range, 4.46 mph in first gear, 7.20 mph in second gear, 11 mph in third gear and 3.60 in reverse.
Abram Hoffer's findings, treated myself, recovered, and discovered the body's second gear system.
A COUPLE of weeks ago Geof f Wright wrote to me about his 2003 Corsa which wouldn't go into second gear properly.
If a HMMWV with a newly installed transmission goes into "limp mode" (won't shift out of second gear right away, it could have the wrong erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) chip installed.
(Part of the thrill is checking the cool lateral-G-force meter to see how you're holding up One feature disconcerts: During light driving the transmission sometimes locks out second gear and drops you into fourth.