Dictionary

degear en · VERB

Etymology

From de- + gear.

Meanings

1. To reduce one's debt by selling off assets, especially those that were acquired with borrowed money.
   • Rather the reverse, for Bank of Ireland managed to degear the fastest and at the same time push its profitability up second fastest. 1978, The Bankers' Magazine:
   • The company it bought had previously been the subject of a leveraged buy-out and is now being restructured and degeared. 1992, Financial Mail, page xix:
   • When uncertain the prudent man steps back, degears, and waits for better opportunities that is my message in a nutshell. 2014, John Piper, Financial Cataclysm Now!, →ISBN:
   • It could use a lot of unused debt capacity in Huletts, which has degeared since the sale of its packaging and paper interests. 1982, High prices - Volume 2, page 6:
2. To calculate the net value of assets after removing both debt and the projected cost of interest on borrowed capital.
   • To remove gearing, a simple weighted average cost of capital model is used: Rₚₜ= {Rₑₜ - (1 - P/Eₜ) R_(dt)}/(P/Eₜ) where Rₚₜ, is the degeared return to the property portfolio; Rₑₜ is the observed equity return; R_(dt) is the return on debt (taken as the long bond yield); and P/Eₜ is the value of the property portfolio as a ratio of shareholder equity. 2012, Michael Ball, Colin Lizieri, Bryan MacGregor, The Economics of Commercial Property Markets, →ISBN, page 321:
   • If the project is viable on this degeared basis, then leasing is compared in price with other forms of borrowing available. 1993, Shipping Finance Annual, page 12:
   • It should be noted that there exists considerable debate surrounding the parameters used when determining the cost of equity with the CAPM. For example, the beta is often "degeared" in order to arrive at a pure asset beta, ... 2009, Canadian Transportation Research Forum, Proceedings of the ... Annual Conference, page 567:
3. To remove one's gear (special equipment).
   • "All right." I said taking off my clown nose and getting my backpack back from Arlo. We degeared right in the thick of the crowd. 2011, Armitage Shanks, Straying off The Path, →ISBN, page 181:
   • I need to de-gear.” She gestured at her skates. 2015, Jessica Clare, The Billionaire Takes a Bride, →ISBN:
   • He may spot jump (aim for a specific target), or water jump (the most dangerous: one is given 15 seconds to degear while in the water), or jump with a partner. 1967, Mademoiselle: The Magazine for the Smart Young Woman:
4. To remove or disable the gears (transmission or interlocking gears).
   • This childhood of mine had caused me to grow up with a dislike of forms, conventions, habits, routines and all the modes of life that encouraged the mind to slip out of gear and idle like a degeared engine, while the body lived through its days and nights automatically. 2015, Jane Duncan, My Friend Sashie, →ISBN:
   • In light of the problems experienced with the type 8B, the Ministry of Munitions' Progress and Allocation Committee (chaired personally by Sir William Weir) expressed early interest in acquiring examples of the degeared engine. 2015, Peter Dye -, The Bridge to Airpower, →ISBN:
   • If locomotive is to be shipped on its own wheels, remove motor brushes or have locomotive degeared, and set brake-cylinder safety valve at from 25 to 30 lb opening pressure, tagging the valve with the opening pressure, and open the dead-engine cock. 1951, General Electric Company, Test Manual: Instructions for Testing Electric Apparatus, page 407:

Forms