costume vs gear

costume

noun
  • A set of clothes appropriate for a particular occasion or season. 

  • A style of dress, including garments, accessories and hairstyle, especially as characteristic of a particular country, period or people. 

  • An outfit or a disguise worn as fancy dress etc. 

verb
  • To dress or adorn with a costume or appropriate garb. 

gear

noun
  • Clothing; garments. 

  • Recreational drugs, including steroids. 

  • A wheel with grooves (teeth) engraved on the outer circumference, such that two such devices can interlock and convey motion from one to the other; a gear wheel. 

  • A configuration of the transmission of a motor car so as to achieve a particular ratio of engine to axle torque. 

  • Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor. 

  • A particular combination or choice of interlocking gears, such that a particular gear ratio is achieved. 

verb
  • To provide with gearing; to fit with gears in order to achieve a desired gear ratio. 

  • To dress; to put gear on; to harness. 

  • To design or devise (something) so as to be suitable (for a particular type of person or a particular purpose). 

  • To borrow money in order to invest it in assets. 

  • To be in, or come into, gear. 

adj
  • great or fantastic 

How often have the words costume and gear occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )