find another gear
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find another gear (third-person singular simple present finds another gear, present participle finding another gear, simple past and past participle found another gear)
- (idiomatic, sports) To suddenly achieve an extra burst of athletic performance, especially after a sustained period of competitive exertion.
- 1999 March 26, Tarik El-Bashir, “Hockey: The Devils Tighten Their Grip On First”, in New York Times, retrieved 24 October 2015:
- But the Devils found another gear in the third period and found the energy that had been lacking throughout a sluggish second period.
- 2012 January 29, Courtney Nguyen, “Challenged again, Novak Djokovic finds another gear in Australian Open final”, in Sports Illustrated, retrieved 24 October 2015:
- [I]f the 24-year-old Djokovic wants to replicate or even surpass his 2011 results, he'll have to keep finding another gear.
- 2012 July 30, Mark Sappenfield, “Ryan Lochte finishes fourth as other swimmers steal the Olympic show”, in Christian Science Monitor, retrieved 24 October 2015:
- Swimmers talk about finding another gear when they need it.
- 2014 January 9, “Skiing: Paerson finds top gear to pip Kostelic”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 24 October 2015:
- Trailing Kostelic by .017 seconds after her first run, Paerson found another gear on her second trip down the deteriorating course to finish with a combined time of 1min 38.65sec—almost a half-second clear of her Croatian rival.
- (idiomatic, by extension) To achieve enhanced performance.
- 2001 July 8, Frank Gibney Jr., “Hyundai In High Gear”, in Time, retrieved 24 October 2015:
- Management's ultimate goal is to become one of the world's top five automakers. That will require finding another gear.
- 2010 November 17, Steve Marsi, “NCIS Review: "Enemies Foreign"”, in TV Fanatic, retrieved 24 October 2015:
- It's amazing that after seven-plus seasons as one of the most consistently compelling shows on TV, NCIS still finds another gear with certain story arcs.