shift gears

verb — 2 senses

shift gears

verb
1

To change the gear by which motion is transmitted from a powered shaft to another shaft, especially in a motor vehicle.

2

Idiomatic To change pace or mode of operation.

Related terms
gear change, shifter, stickshift, automatic transmission, drive stick, gearbox, manual transmission

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.