worm gear

1. 1.

   gear consisting of a shaft with screw thread (the worm) that meshes with a toothed wheel (the worm wheel); changes the direction of the axis of rotary motion

   Broadergear

   Partswormworm wheel

Questions about worm gear

What does worm gear mean?

worm gear means "gear consisting of a shaft with screw thread (the worm) that meshes with a toothed wheel (the worm wheel); changes the direction of the axis of rotary motion".

Is worm gear a common word?

worm gear is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.