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Swag vs Gear - What's the difference?

swag | gear |

In lang=en terms the difference between swag and gear

is that swag is style; fashionable appearance or manner while gear is recreational drugs.

In countable terms the difference between swag and gear

is that swag is the booty of a burglar or thief; a boodle while gear is a configuration of the transmission of a motor car so as to achieve a particular ratio of engine to axle torque.

In uncountable terms the difference between swag and gear

is that swag is handouts, freebies, or giveaways, such as those handed out at conventions while gear is equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.

As verbs the difference between swag and gear

is that swag is to sway; to cause to sway while gear is to provide with gearing; to fit with gears in order to achieve a desired gear ratio.

As nouns the difference between swag and gear

is that swag is a loop of draped fabric while gear is equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.

As an adjective gear is

(mostly British (Scouse)) great or fantastic.

swag

English

Etymology 1

Probably from (etyl)

Verb

(swagg)
  • (intransitive, and, transitive) To sway; to cause to sway.
  • To droop; to sag.
  • * Palsgrave
  • I swag' as a fat person's belly ' swaggeth as he goeth.
  • To decorate (something) with loops of draped fabric.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2009, date=January 29, author=Cathy Horyn, title=In Paris, a Nod to Old Masters, work=New York Times citation
  • , passage=Dior wouldn’t be Dior without the swagged ball gown

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A loop of draped fabric.
  • * 2005 , , Bloomsbury Publishing, page 438:
  • He looked in bewilderment at number 24, the final house with its regalia of stucco swags and bows.
  • A low point or depression in land; especially , a place where water collects.
  • * 1902', D. G. Simmons, "The Influence of Contaminated Water in the Development of Diseases", ''The American Practitioner and News'', ' 34 : 182.
  • Whenever the muddy water would accumulate in the swag' the water from the well in question would become muddy After the water in the ' swag had all disappeared through the sink-hole the well water would again become clear.

    Derived terms

    * (l)

    Etymology 2

    (swagger).

    Noun

    (-)
  • (slang) Style; fashionable appearance or manner.
  • * 2009 , Mark Anthony Archer, Exile , page 119
  • Now this dude got swag , and he was pushing up on me but, it wasn't like we was kicking it or anything!”

    Etymology 3

    From British thieves? slang.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (countable) The booty of a burglar or thief; a boodle.
  • * 1838 , :
  • “It?s all arranged about bringing off the swag , is it?” asked the Jew. Sikes nodded.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘ […] They tell me there was a recognized swag market down here.’}}
  • * 1971 November 22, Frank E. Emerson, “They Can Get It For You BETTER Than Wholesale”, New York Magazine , page 38
  • He was on his way to call on other dealers to check out their swag and to see if he could trade away some of his leftover odds and ends.
  • (uncountable) Handouts, freebies, or giveaways, such as those handed out at conventions.
  • * 2011 , Mark Henry, Battle of the Network Zombies
  • “Make sure to take some swag on your way out!” I called.
    He stooped a bit in mid-trot and snatched a small gold bag out of the basket at the door. The contents were mostly shit, a few drink tickets to the Well of Souls, VIP status at Convent, that sort of thing.
  • (countable, Australia, dated) The possessions of a bushman or itinerant worker, tied up in a blanket and carried over the shoulder, sometimes attached to a stick.
  • (countable, Australia, by extension) A small single-person tent, usually foldable in to an integral backpack.
  • (countable, Australia, New Zealand) A large quantity (of something).
  • * 2010 August 31, " Hockey: Black Sticks lose World Cup opener]", [[w:The New Zealand Herald, The New Zealand Herald] :
  • New Zealand wasted a swag of chances to lose their opening women?s hockey World Cup match.
    Derived terms
    * swaggie * swagman

    Verb

  • (Australia) To travel on foot carrying a swag (possessions tied in a blanket).
  • * 1880 , James Coutts Crawford, Recollections of Travel in New Zealand and Australia , page 259,
  • He told me that times had been bad at Invercargill, and that he had started for fresh pastures, had worked his passage up as mate in a small craft from the south, and, arriving in Port Underwood, had swagged his calico tent over the hill, and was now living in it, pitched in the manuka scrub.
  • * 1976 , Pembroke Arts Club, The Anglo-Welsh Review , page 158,
  • That such a man was swagging in the Victoria Bush at the age of fifty-one requires explanation.
  • * 2006 , , Issue 23, page 3,
  • The plot is straightforward. A swagman is settling down by a billabong after a hard day?s swagging .
  • * 2011 , Penelope Debelle, Red Silk: The Life of Elliott Johnston QC , page 21,
  • Over the Christmas of 1939, just three months after Britain and Australia had declared war on Germany, they went swagging together for a week and slept out under the stars in the Adelaide Hills, talking, walking and reading.
    Derived terms
    * swag it

    Etymology 4

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • ; a wild guess or ballpark estimate.
  • I can take a swag at the answer, but it may not be right.

    Anagrams

    *

    gear

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia gear)
  • (uncountable) equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.
  • Clothing; garments.
  • * Spenser
  • Array thyself in thy most gorgeous gear .
  • (obsolete) Goods; property; household items.
  • (Chaucer)
  • * Robynson (More's Utopia)
  • Homely gear and common ware.
  • (countable) a wheel with grooves (teeth) engraved on the outer circumference, such that two such devices can interlock and convey motion from one to the other.
  • (countable) a particular combination or choice of interlocking gears, such that a particular gear ratio is achieved.
  • (countable) A configuration of the transmission of a motor car so as to achieve a particular ratio of engine to axle torque
  • (slang) recreational drugs
  • * 2003 , Marianne Hancock, Looking for Oliver (page 90)
  • Have you got any gear ? Dominic, have you got any acid?
  • (uncountable, archaic) stuff.
  • * 1662 , , Book III, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 113:
  • "When he was digged up, which was in the presence of the Magistracy of the Town, his body was found entire, not at all putrid, no ill smell about him, saving the mustiness of the grave-Clothes, his joynts limber and flexible, as in those that are alive, his skin only flaccid, but a more fresh grown in the room of it, the wound of his throat gaping, but no gear nor corruption in it; there was also observed a Magical mark in the great toe of his right foot, viz. an Excrescency in the form of a Rose."
  • (obsolete) Business matters; affairs; concern.
  • * Spenser
  • Thus go they both together to their gear .
  • (obsolete, UK, dialect) Anything worthless; nonsense; rubbish.
  • (Wright)
  • * Latimer
  • That servant of his that confessed and uttered this gear was an honest man.

    Synonyms

    * cog, cogwheel, gearwheel

    Derived terms

    * change gear * change gears * high gear * gear lever * gear shift * gear up * shift gear * shift gears * up a gear

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (engineering) To provide with gearing; to fit with gears in order to achieve a desired gear ratio.
  • (engineering) To be in, or come into, gear.
  • to dress; to put gear on; to harness.
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (mostly British (Scouse) ) great or fantastic
  • Anagrams

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