fourth gear
nounEtymology 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.
1
The fourth of the available gears in a transmission or other gearbox.
- 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.2009, Madhu Jain, The Kapoors: The First Family of Indian Cinema, page 243:
- 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.2014, Paul Monette, The Gold Diggers: A Novel: