get one's ass in gear

English

Alternative forms

• get one's arse into gear, get one's ass into gear, put one's ass in gear, have one's ass in gear

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

get one's ass in gear (third-person singular simple present gets one's ass in gear, present participle getting one's ass in gear, simple past got one's ass in gear, past participle gotten one's ass in gear)

1. (US, idiomatic) To exert effective effort; to get going; to get moving; to start producing.

   He had been sitting there for two hours until the boss showed up and told him to get his ass in gear.

Usage notes

• "Ass" is sometimes used to denote self in idioms and expressions, as in "get your ass up", "get your ass out of here."

Translations

to exert effective effort

• Finnish: panna liikettä niveliin
• Polish: ruszać dupę impf, ruszyć dupę (pl) pf
• Portuguese: mexer-se
• Russian: вка́лывать (ru) impf (vkályvatʹ) (colloquial), горба́титься (ru) impf (gorbátitʹsja) (colloquial), въёбывать impf (vʺjóbyvatʹ) (vulgar), въя́бывать impf (vʺjábyvatʹ) (vulgar)
• Spanish: mover el culo

See also

• find another gear