Take off in second gear (4)
I believe the answer is:
skit
'take off' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'second gear' is the wordplay.
'second' becomes 's' (common abbreviation).
'gear' becomes 'kit' (kit is a kind of gear).
's'+'kit'='SKIT'
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for skit that I've seen before include "Comical sketch" , "Burlesque - parody" , "Brief satirical sketch" , "'Short comedy sketch, a parody (4)'" , "that may be produced by 19 [PARODIST]" .)