From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtop gearˌtop ˈgear noun [uncountable] British English 1 TEMthe highest gear of a car, bus etcin top gear The car will cruise at 80 mph in top gear.2 → move/get into top gear
Examples from the Corpus
top gear• It was downhill in top gear now.• Quins had started in top gear with Will Carling ripping through the Rugby midfield for the opening try.• Accelerate smartly so that you can get into top gear as quickly as possible.• It was ready to move into top gear at very short notice.• With a 34-0 lead, top gear was no longer required.• Bath could not hit their top gear of late as they too slithered around in the wet.in top gear• Engine noise is not a problem once it's in top gear. 