| 释义 |
▪ I. wheel, n.|hwiːl|
Forms: 1 hweoᵹol, -ul, -el, hweowol, -ul, hweowl, hweohl, 1–3 hweol, hwel, 3–4 weole, wel, 3–6 whel, 3–7 whele, 4–5 wele, (whiel), north. quele, 4–6 Sc. quhele, 4–7 wheele, Sc. quheill, (1 hwiol, 3 wheol, weol, ȝweol, ȝwele, 4 wheole, woele, hueȝel, whewel, north. quel, quile, quil, Sc. quhel, 5 wheyle, whelle, whyll, wyle, north. quheyll, qweyll, qwell, 5–6 wheylle, north. qwhele, qwele, quheil(e, quhell, 6 wheill, whefyll, wheale, whieale, weil, whyl(l)e, qwyl, Sc. vheill, vhel(e, while, 7 Sc. quheele), 4– wheel.
[OE. hweoᵹol, hweowol, hwéol = OFris. *hwêl (EFris. weel, wêil, NFris. well), (M)LG. wêl, (M)Du. wiel (whence G. wiel in technical senses), ON. hjól (Sw., Da. hjul), hvél:—OTeut. *χwe(ᵹ)ula-, *χweχula-:— Indo-Eur. *qweqwlo- repr. by Skr. cakrá- circle, wheel, Zend caχrəm, Gr. κύκλος; reduplicated f. *qwelo-: *qwolo-, repr. by ON. hvel, hvela (Norw. kvel), OPruss. kelan wheel, Gr. πόλος axis, pole, ploughed-up land, L. colus distaff, OSl. kolo wheel; the root meaning of qwel- is ‘to turn’ (cf. Skr. cárati to move, Zend čaraiti ‘versatur’, Gr. πέλεσθαι to be in motion, L. colere to till, in-quil-īnus sojourner).]
I.
1. A circular frame of wood, metal, or other hard substance (sometimes in the form of a solid disc, but usually of a ring (rim or felloe) with spokes radiating from the central part or nave) attached or capable of being attached at its centre to an axle around which it revolves; used, in many different forms and sizes, for communicating, facilitating, or equalizing motion, and for other purposes. a. In a vehicle, plough, locomotive engine, etc., each of two or more such appliances which support it and, by rolling upon the ground or other surface, enable it to move along with the least possible friction.
at or in the wheel, of horses, next to the carriage, in the place of the wheelers (see wheeler 3) as opposed to the leaders. on the wheel, on wheels, riding in wheeled vehicles. (See also 13 b.)
c888ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §7 Swa swa on wænes eaxe hwearfiað þa hweol. a900O.E. Martyrol. 26 Dec. 8 An pleᵹende cild arn under wænes hweowol ond wearð sona dead. c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 270 Se firmamentum went on ðam twam steorran swa swa hweoᵹel [v. rr. hweoᵹul, hweowul] tyrnð on eaxe. a1225Ancr. R. 356 Elies hweoles þet weren furene. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8437 An quointe tour hii lete make..Vpe four woeles..it was idriue. a1300Cursor M. 21267, I sal tell..Quat mai be yock, and quat quele [Fairf. quile, Trin. wheel] mai be, Bridel quat es, and quat axeltre. c1315Shoreham iv. 223 Me makeþ prynses Þe host to gouerni, And ase whewelen þe linses To-gadere heldeþ hy. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxv. 118 He rydez in a chariot with foure whelez. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §2 In Kente they haue other maner of plowes, somme goo with wheles, as they doo in many other places. 1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 130 Hoy out (sir carter) the hog fro thy wheele. 1599Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) III. 9 Two turfe waynes furnished wth whiles axeltries. a1600Montgomerie Misc. Poems xlviii. 185 The bouand dolphin, tumbland lik a vhele. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 490 They..have moving houses built on wheeles. 1782Cowper John Gilpin 41 Smack went the whip, round went the wheels. 1820A. Sutherland St. Kathleen III. 216 It widna be Christian-like to stay cosie at hame, an' a' the countryside on the Wheel. 1883E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leicestersh. 223 Noble lords were now and again to be seen following the chase on wheels. 1884J. E. T. Rogers Work & Wages 23 Plain wheels—that is, wheels formed from the trunk of a tree, with holes bored through them for the axles to run on. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xiii, Three leaders and a pair of great upstanding half-bred horses at the wheel. 1893Dunmore Pamirs II. 298, I took my tarantass with five horses attached, three in the wheel and two leaders.
b. Generally, in machinery or mechanical apparatus of any kind.
a1100Aldhelm Gloss. i. 502 (Napier 15/1) Rota hauritoria, hlædtrendle, hweowla, hweowl. 14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 600 Panus, virgula illa circa quam trama involvitur. Idem et canellus dicitur, a Quele. 14..Nom. ibid. 696/10 Hoc vertubrum, a whelle. c1440Jacob's Well 260 A carte-qweel, drye & vngrecyd, cryeth lowdest of oþere qwelys. 1479–81Rec. St. Mary at Hill 101 Nayle to amende the whele of the Sanctus bell. 1483Cath. Angl. 415/2 A Wheylle of A drawe wele, anclea. 1495Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896) 189 Wheles for to wynde up the Mayne Sayle. 1516Stratton Churchw. Acc. in Archœologia XLVI. 204 A new whefyll for the gret bell. 1545Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 21 A while to the secounde tenor. 1590Sir J. Smythe Disc. Weapons 47 Whereby they should faile to strike iust vpon the wheeles being fire-lockes. 1616T. Scot Philomythie H 6, Some wheels were taken off..And some stood vselesse, so the Clock was spoild. 1768Tucker Lt. Nat. I. i. iii. 59 A curious engine compounded of wheels screws and pulleys whereby a lady with a single hair of her head might raise a stone of two hundred weight. 1803Mrs. P. L. Powys Pass. fr. Diaries (1899) 354 Before you enter the [silk-]manufactory you pass an immense wheel; by that one 99,947 other wheels are all turn'd. 1845G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. IV. 185 Other wheel and pinion work..modifies this motion.
c. wheel and axle (or † axis), as one of the mechanical powers: see power n.1 12.
1773W. Emerson Princ. Mech. (ed. 3) 284 Wheel and axle, a machine to raise weights. One of the mechanic powers. 1799Jas. Wood Princ. Mech. iv. (ed. 2) 63 The wheel and axle consists of two parts, a cylinder AB moveable about it's axis CD, and a circle EF so attached to the cylinder that the axis CD passes through it's center, and is perpendicular to it's plane. 1821R. Turner's Arts & Sci. 85 In using the wheel and axis as the weight is raised, the rope coils round the axis and enlarges the diameter, hence the advantage of the power is diminished. 1862Spencer First Princ. ii. xiv. §114 (1875) 325 The advance from the lever to the wheel-and-axle is an advance from a simple agent to an agent made up of several simple ones.
d. With prefixed defining words indicating kind, structure, use, etc.
There are numerous compounds, as cart-wheel n., cog-wheel, driving-wheel, fly-wheel, etc., etc. fifth wheel, idle wheel: see fifth A. 1 c, C, idle a. 5 b.
II. A wheel or wheel-like structure, or an instrument or appliance having a wheel as its essential part, used for some specific purpose.
2. a. A large wheel, or contrivance resembling one, used in various ways as an instrument of torture or punishment. to break on the wheel: see break v. 7 b.
c888ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §7 Þæt unstille hweol ðe Ixion wæs to ᵹebunden. c1000ælfric Saints' Lives xiv. 86 Het se arleasa casere ᵹebindan georium on anum bradum hweowle. a1225Leg. Kath. 1965 Ha schal beon tohwiðeret, wið þe hweoles swa, in an hondhwile. c1290St. George 58 in S. Eng. Leg. 295 So sone ase huy þis guode man a-boue þusse ȝweole brouȝte, Þat ȝweol to-brac. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiii. (George) 545 Þare brocht wes a quhele made Awfule & hye, & in it hade Sharpe swerdis scherand in al syde. c1450Mirk's Festial 134 A whele set full of howkes yn þat on syde of þe whele, and swerde poyntys in þat oþyr syde aȝeyne þat. 1578H. Wotton Courtlie Controv. 111 By the same iudgement was Ponifre..broken vpon a wheele. 1608Dekker Dead Tearme Wks. (Grosart) IV. 11 As if hee were a Male-factor, and hadde beene tortured on the Germaine Wheele. 1709–10Addison Tatler No. 133 ⁋3 To rescue him from the Ignominy of the Wheel. 1764Goldsm. Trav. 435 The lifted axe, the agonizing wheel. 1821Scott Kenilw. xli, He was swoln like a corpse three days exposed on the wheel.
b. wheel of Ixion (Astron.): see quot.
1590T. Hood Use of Celestial Globe 39 b, Corona Austrina, the South garland..Others call it the wheele of Ixion.
3. Various mechanical contrivances.
a. The revolving part of a turning-lathe, or of a potter's lathe (potter's wheel: see potter n.1 3); also allusively, as in phr. on the wheel = in process of being fashioned, in the making.
b. = mill-wheel.
c. = spinning-wheel.
d. = tread-wheel; also, a treadmill.
†e. musical wheel, the revolving barrel of a barrel-organ or musical box.
f. An instrument for measuring distances: = perambulator 2.
g. = grinding-wheel: see grinding vbl. n. 2. h. Naut., etc. = steering-wheel: see steering vbl. n. 3 b. Now usu. of the steering-wheel of a motor vehicle. i. = paddle-wheel.
a.1382Wyclif Jer. xviii. 3 And Y cam doun in to the hous of the crockere, and lo! he made a werc vp on a whel. 1540Palsgr. Acolastus iii. v. R ij b, As well proportioned as if it had ben made of a tourners hande, at his wheele. 1677Gilpin Dæmonol. i. xviii. 153 While they are upon the Wheel (as a Potters Vessel in the Prophet) they are often marred. 1695J. Sage Fund. Charter Presbytery (1697) 9 Our Reformation was on the Wheel. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Pottery, The Wheel and Lathe are the Chief, almost the only Instruments, used in Pottery. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 47 Potters..have their wheel at hand, that they may work a little when they please.
b.c1400Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) i. xxv. (1859) 30 The whele of a mylle lyghtly torneth alwey to ther that he bygan. 1484Caxton Fables of æsop v. x, For the swyftnesse of the water he must nedes passe vnder the whele of the mylle. 1609Skene Reg. Maj. i. 115 b, Of ane milne and ane man slane with the quheill thereof. 1833Tennyson Miller's Dau. 102, I loved the..dark round of the dripping wheel.
c.1467Maldon, Essex, Crt. Rolls, Bundle 43, no. 14 (MS.) vii cusshones, 1 whyll, 1 par cardarum, 1 hemper. c1525Richmond Wills (Surtees) 10 Item j qwele, j par of kayrds, j rakyncrok, xijd. 1617in W. F. Shaw Mem. Eastry (1870) 229 One payer of wollen cards two wollen whiles. 1651J. Nicoll Diary (Bann. Club) 61 Sum pure pepill quha wer spyning that day loist thair quheillis and wer brokin. 1729P. Walkden Diary (1866) 57 A Jersey wheel to wind spoyles on. 1834D. Crockett Life iv. 32 My wife had a good wheel, and knowed exactly how to use it. 1890Hartland Sci. Fairy Tales i. (1891) 7 The women at their wheels; and while they spin they sing love ditties.
d.1623J. Taylor (Water P.) New Discov. A 6, In a Wheele I saw a comely Asse..draw as it were from the infernall pit..So..coole a water. 1697Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. (1703) 114 Envy is..a vice they say which keeps no holydays, but is always in the wheel, and working upon its own despair. 1742Young Nt. Th. iii. 331 To climb daily Life's worn wheel, Which draws up nothing new. 1827Scott Jrnl. 22 Mar., It..makes one feel like a dog in a wheel, always moving and never advancing. 1835Dickens Sk. Boz, Last Cab-driver, He positively refused to work on the wheel; so after many trials, I was compelled to order him into solitary confinement.
e.1659J. Leak Waterwks. I ij b, Let there be a Musical Wheel..so when the said water Wheel shall turn it shall cause the Musical Wheel to turn.
f.1696Phil. Trans. XIX. 319 One by the Wheel was Sixteen Perches round, another in walking Seventy six Paces. 1774M. Mackenzie Marit. Surv. iii. 7 Some Surveyors measure their Distances by a Wheel.
g.1707J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 433 Running at the Grinder, [he] made him quit his Wheel. 1831J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 289 The blades, after being hardened, are directly carried to the grinding-mill, or wheel, as the establishment is called.
h.1743Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 8 There broke a Sea in the Ship, which carried me over the Wheel. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxxiii, It took two men at the wheel to steer her. 1883D. C. Murray Hearts xxxiii, Most of the people were below, and the few on deck were clustered near the wheel. 1906C. N. & A. M. Williamson Car of Destiny xxxiii, Taking the wheel himself,..he backed the big, reddish-brown car off the barricade. 1929J. B. Priestley Good Compan. i. ii. 67 For the next hour she sat at the wheel under his tuition. 1972T. P. McMahon Issue of Bishop's Blood (1973) xvi. 229 The long-haul truckers drove themselves right into a ditch after too many hours at the wheel.
i.1842Dickens Amer. Notes i, The two great wheels turn fiercely round for the first time; and the noble ship..breaks proudly through the..water.
†4. A turnstile or similar contrivance at the entrance of a convent. Also turning-wheel (turning ppl. a. 7). Obs.
14..in Aungier Syon (1840) 257 The kepers of the wheyles, grates, gates, or entres into the clausures. a1652Brome City Wit iii. i, He never sung to the wheele in Saint Brides Nunnery yonder. 1669Woodhead St. Teresa ii. xxxi. 192, I wished him to go, and put up a Wheele, and a Grate, in the House appointed for the Nuns dwelling.
5. In full wheel of fortune (see 12 a): = lottery-wheel: see lottery 5. Also allusively.
1698Post Boy 3 Jan. in Hone Every-day Bk. (1827) II. 1422 We have divers wheels agoing. 1750New Jersey Archives Ser. i. (1895) XII. 640 The [Lottery] Ticketts will be putting into the wheels on Wednesday. 1763Brit. Mag. IV. 548 Beware the Wheel of Fortune—'tis a gin, You'll lose a dozen times for once you win. 1774Foote Cozeners ii, I believe Toby will hardly thank me for going into the wheel. 1801T. Moore To the Large & Beaut. Miss ― 4 But how comes it that you, such a capital prize, Should so long have remained in the wheel? 1834L. Ritchie Wand. Seine 167 Stalls, provided with wheels-of-fortune, at which the Norman lass boldly ventures her solid sous for empty hopes. 1880A. McKay's Hist. Kilmarnock (ed. 4) 121 Wheel-of-fortune men, offering to make all rich in a jiffie.
6. a. A rotatory firework in the form of a wheel. (See also Catherine wheel 3, pin-wheel 2.) b. wheel of colour: = chromatrope. c. wheel of life: = zoetrope.
1629in Hodgkin Rariora (1904) III. Fireworks 16 Girondelles or Fierie Wheeles. 1653Van Etten's Math. Recreat. 272 How to make Wheels of Fire. 1826Hood Vauxhall 13 Wheels whiz—smash crackers—serpents twist. 1872Wheel of life [see zootrope]. 1877Wood Nature's Teach., Optics ii. 306 The Chromatrope, or Wheel of Colour.
7. a. orig. and esp. U.S. A bicycle or tricycle; also abstr. (with def. art.) the practice of riding on one, cycling; (with indef. art.) a cycle-ride.
1880Scribner's Monthly Feb. 483/1 A few possessors of the birotate chariot, numbering some forty odd, enjoyed a ‘wheel around the Hub’. 1882Wheelman I. 13 ‘I love my wheel,’ he said, ‘as the yachtsman loves his boat.’ 1884Harper's Mag. Jan. 305/1 The wheel was a new thing in New York ways. 1888P. Furnivall Phys. Training 3, I am more accustomed to the wheel than the pen. 1893Outing (U.S.) XXII. 140/2 It would have been a most lovely wheel had we chosen to explore it on bicycles. 1896H. G. Wells Wheels of Chance vii, Hoopdriver..felt a pleasing sense of having duly asserted the wide sympathy that binds all cyclists together, of having behaved himself as becomes one of the brotherhood of the wheel.
b. to be on someone's wheel: to be close behind someone, to be on his track; to put pressure on someone (to do something). slang (chiefly Austral.).
1941V. Davis Phenomena in Crime vi. 78 Don't come here if there's a busy on your wheel! 1954V. Kelly Shadow 89 Down there the cops'll give you a go. Here they're on your wheel all the time. 1959A. Upfield Bony & Mouse 104 I'll be ready for it. I'm going to be right on Tony's wheel when it happens. 1969O. White Under Iron Rainbow 118 The inspector's been on my wheel to trace him.
c. pl. A car. slang (orig. U.S.).
1959Esquire Nov. 70 j, Wheels, car. 1970K. Platt Pushbutton Butterfly (1971) v. 51 ‘Can I drive you to where you're agitating today?’ ‘Beautiful. I don't have wheels,’ he said. 1971‘H. Carmichael’ Quiet Woman iv. 33 I'd be out and about if I had wheels. Damn car won't be ready until tomorrow. 1982G. Lyall Conduct of Major Maxim xxv. 222 ‘Did you find me some wheels?’.. ‘Yep: a Renault 16TX.’
8. we had one but the wheel came off, joc. phr. used to indicate that the speaker has not understood the subject of the foregoing conversation.
1937Partridge Dict. Slang 366/1 Had one and (or but) the wheel came off (,we), a lower-class and military c.p. directed at an unintelligible speaker or speech. 1974P. Wright Lang. Brit. Industry xiv. 128 If asked for something foolish, you can say,..‘I had one but the wheels came off.’
III. Something resembling a wheel in form or movement.
9. An object having the form or figure of a wheel; a circle, or something circular; a disc.
spec. a. (a) in Needlework, an open pattern or decoration with radiating threads; (b) in Arch. an ornament with radiating tracery (cf. wheel-window in 19); (c) in Zool. a wheel-like structure, as the wheel-organ of a rotifer, or a wheel-spicule in an echinoderm or sponge.
a900O.E. Martyrol. 5 May 74 He sæde þæt þa drihtnes fotlastas wæron beworht mid ærne hweole. c1000Hymns (Surtees) 22/25 Þære sunnan hweoᵹul [orig. solis rotam]. c1384Chaucer H. Fame ii. 286 Yf that thow Thorwe on water now a stoon Wel wost thou hyt wol make anoon A litel roundell..And..thow shalt see wel That whele sercle wol cause another whele. a1500Assemb. Ladies 55 With stayres going doun Inmiddes the place, with turning wheel, certayn. 1556Aurelio & Isab. (1608) F vj, The pecocke puttes in a whylle his geltede fethers. 1611Cotgr., Rouë de mer, the sea-wheele; a huge, round, and monstrous sea-fish. a1651Sir J. Skeffington Heroe of Lorenzo (1652) 71 Let the Peacock please himself with the glorious wheel of his train. 1835R. Willis Archit. Mid. Ages vi. 64 Wheels occur mixed with the tracery and pannelling of the Italian Gothic. 1888Rolleston & Jackson Forms Anim. Life 550 The calcareous deposits..are..represented..by wheels (= rotulae), e.g. in Chirodota. 1903Daily Chron. 3 Oct. 8/3 Trimmed with smart wheels and tassels of brown silk.
b. U.S. slang. A dollar; = cartwheel 2.
1807H. Tufts in E. Pearson Autobiogr. of Criminal (1930) ii. iv. 293 Wheel, a dollar. 1825J. Neal Brother Jonathan I. 160, I shows him a double handful o' the royal goold; the ginooine yeller stuff—wheels. 1902W. N. Harben Abner Daniel 143 How will fifteen hundred round wheels strike you? 1907C. E. Mulford Bar-20 v. 47, I paid twenty wheels for that eight years ago.
c. A whole cheese, flan, or other food which is made with a circular form but may be cut into sections. Usu. with of and defining term.
1977New Yorker 3 Oct. 53/3 A feast of varied delicacies, its principal ornament a small wheel of Camembert. 1978C. Conran British Cooking 233/2 On May Day in the city of Gloucester a huge golden wheel of cheese, festively garlanded, used to be carried in procession round the town. 1978Neiman-Marcus Christmas Bk. 93 A full three pound wheel, covered with protective black wax. 1982M. Babson Death warmed Up viii. 75 The wheels of pizza and quiche lorraine in the makeshift rack. 1985Sci. Amer. May 67/1 The semisoft, blue-mold cheese is made from sheep's milk and formed into wheels weighing about 2·5 kilograms (5·5 pounds) each.
10. The celestial sphere or firmament, or one of the spheres of the planets, etc. in the ancient astronomy, regarded as revolving like a wheel. Obs. or merged in figurative senses (see 13, 14).
c1200Ormin 17531 Þurrh whatt wass heffness whel forrgarrt To dreȝhenn helle pine? c1374Chaucer Boeth. i. met. v. (1868) 21 O þou maker of þe whele þat bereþ þe sterres. 1387–8T. Usk Test. Love ii. i. (Skeat) l. 124 The shyning sonne of vertue in bright whele of this Margaryte beholde. c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. xl. (1869) 24 The wheel in whiche the moone gooth alwei aboute. c1449Pecock Repr. ii. xvi. 242 The fix sterris with her orbe or whele. 1814Cary Dante, Parad. i. 62 Her eyes fast fix'd on the eternal wheels [i.e. the heavens].
11. One of the wards of a lock, which are rotated by the key. techn.
1784Bramah in Repert. Arts & Manuf. (1796) V. 218 The inserting..between the key-hole and the bolt, a greater or less number of wheels or wards. 1846Penny Cycl. Suppl. II. 212/1 These prominent rings are the wards, or in technical language, wheels, which impede the introduction of a false key.
IV. Figurative, allusive, and abstract uses.
12. a. The wheel which Fortune is fabled to turn, an emblem of mutability. (See also 5.) So wheel of Providence (rare).
Phr. to set or sit high on the wheel (of Fortune): to make or be highly fortunate; the wheel has come full circle and varr. (in allusion to Shakes. King Lear v. iii. 174), the same situation has come about again, things have returned to their original position.
c888ælfred Boeth. vii. §2 Wenst þu þæt ðu þæt hwerfende hweol þonne hit on ryne wyrð mæᵹe oncerran? a1300Cursor M. 23719 Dame fortune turnes þan hir quele. 1340Ayenb. 24 Huanne þe lheuedi of hap heþ hire hueȝel y⁓went. 1375Barbour Bruce xiii. 637 Fortoune... This mychty kyng of Yngland Scho had set on her quheill on hicht. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 67 Thanked be ffortune and hire false wheel. a1400–50Wars Alex. 4660 Þe qwele of qwistounes ȝoure qualite encreses. 1448–9J. Metham Amoryus & Cl. 389 O fortune,..Qwy chongyddyst thow thi qwele causeles? 1596T. Wilson Diana (1921) 34 Ffortunes turning whyle. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 448 Fortune turned her wheele and downe went this Colony. 1622Bacon Hen. VII 228 So fatall a thing it is, for the greatest and straitest Amities of Kings, at one time or other to haue a little of the Wheele. c1645Howell Lett. iv. xxix. (1890) 608 Till the great Wheel of Providence turn up another spoke. 1760–2Goldsm. Cit. W. vii, The wheel of fortune turns incessantly round. 1859Tennyson Marr. Geraint 347 Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel and lower the proud. 1916L. Tracy Day of Wrath v, The turn of fortune's wheel was distinctly favourable. 1944W. S. Maugham Razor's Edge v. 176 The wheel comes full circle... There was a time when the black sheep of the family was sent from my country to America; now apparently he's sent from your country [sc. America] to Europe. 1954J. A. Sheard Words we Use iv. 158 Old English had a derivative noun, godspellere, but this..was later replaced by a foreign loan-word,..evangelist... But in recent years the wheel has come full circle, and by a new process of derivation the Americans have their hot gospellers! 1966W. H. Lewis in Lett. C. S. Lewis 24 The wheel had come full circle: once again we were together in the little end room at home. 1977J. Crosby Company of Friends xviii. 117 The wheel was coming full circle. The public was fed to the teeth with disclosure. It yearned for the security of secrecy.
b. With allusion to the wheels of the chariot of the Sun. poet.
1557T. Phaer æneid vii. (1558) S ij b, The golden morning bright with roset wheles dyd mounting ryse. 1727Broome Iliad xi. Poems 177 While with his morning Wheels, the God of Day Climb'd up the Steep of Heav'n.
13. In direct fig. use from 1, esp. 1 a, chiefly in reference to the course or sequence of events, procedure, the passage of time.
a. from 1 a.
a1340Hampole Psalter xix. 8 Þai ere draghen aboute with þe whels of couatys. 1390Gower Conf. I. 18 Whos carte goth upon the whieles Of coveitise and worldes Pride. 1613J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. (1630) ii. 174/2 The wheele of Time would turne. a1628F. Grevil Cælica viii, Furrowes not worne by time, but wheeles of anguish. 1668Pepys Diary 27 Dec., All they can hope for to do out of the King's revenue being but to keep our wheels a-going on present services. 1675Owen Indwelling Sin xvi. (1732) 219 To oyl the Wheels of Mens utmost Endeavours. 1679E. Everard Disc. 20 All these States may be in a condition to nail the Wheel, and to produce an Universal Peace in Christendom. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 86 On these Wheels moves the Traffick of the East, and has succeeded better than any Corporation preceding. a1716South Serm., Luke xii. 15 Wks. 1727 IV. 438 Covetousness has been..the principal..Spring of Motion; and..hypocritical Prayers and Fastings, the sure Wheels, by which the great Work..has still gone forward. 1776Adam Smith W.N. ii. ii. I. 346 The great wheel of circulation [sc. money] is altogether different from the goods which are circulated by means of it. 1821Lamb Elia Ser. i. South sea House, Night's wheels are rattling fast over me. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i, This present writer..is anxious..to help the wheel over, and throw his stone on to the pile. 1884J. Parker Apost. Life III. 73 A little recognition of merit, a kindly reference to loving service done..helps the wheel of life to run round more smoothly. 1907Standard 19 Jan. 6/6 The wheels of progress might be unduly impeded.
b. on wheels: (a) With rapid and continuous movement or action; chiefly in phr. to go or run on wheels, to proceed swiftly or uninterruptedly; to go smoothly, make good progress; to go on actively or incessantly; (humorously, of a clock) to go too fast or irregularly; (b) In working order, in normal condition for action (dial.); (c) used as an intensive: in the extreme.
1547Gardiner in Foxe A. & M. (1563) 734/2 The euell willers of the realme will take corage and make accompt..that all goeth on wheles. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 317 Then may I set the world on wheeles, when she can spin for her liuing. 1600Breton Pasquil's Passe Wks. (Grosart) I. 8/2 From the blaines and kibes vpon my heeles; And from a madding wit that runnes on wheeles,..The blessed Lord of heau'n deliuer me. 1675Hobbes Odyssey xviii. 31 While his tongue Thus runs on wheels. 1731–8Swift Pol. Conversat. 108 Col. Pray, my Lord, what's a Clock by your Oracle? Ld. Sparkish. Faith, I can't tell, I think my Watch runs upon Wheels. 1820J. Clare Poems 89 If fate's so kind to let's be doing, That's—just keep cart on wheels a going. 1831Mrs. Sherwood Henry Milner iii. xv. 307, I can..let my jointure run up to liquidate debts; and then, when it is clear, we shall be on our four wheels again. 1914[see job n.2 4 d]. 1943S. Lewis Gideon Planish 127 Looks just like a sweet little ivory statue, but is she hell on wheels! 1958M. Dickens Man Overboard iv. 59 It was his wife. She's a bitch on wheels, from what he tells me. 1970‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird iv. 42 Look at the time... If you're going to show us your balloons, you'll have to do it on wheels. 1978S. Brill Teamsters vii. 275 In the 1930s and '40s and into the '50s, truck driving was sweatshop labor on wheels. 1980N. Freeling Castang's City xxv. 174 Local wine-shipper in quite a high-class way... The business ran on wheels.
†c. a word on its (or upon the) wheels: an echo of the marginal ‘Heb. spoken vpon his wheeles’ in the A.V. of Proverbs xxv. 11, where the text has ‘fitly spoken’. Obs.
Heb. 'ophnāw (dual or pl.) of this passage is now regarded as ἅπαξ λεγόµενον, and ‘al-'ophnāw interpreted as ‘in its turns’, ‘in (right) circumstances’; formerly referred to 'ôphen a wheel.
1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. i. (1669) 36/1 A word in season is a word on its wheels. c1657P. Henry in Life (1699) 23 There never was Truth..more seasonable to any than this was to me: It was a word upon the Wheels.
d. silly as a wheel: extremely silly. Austral. slang.
1952T. A. G. Hungerford Ridge & River 57 Oscar was sound, but silly as a wheel. 1966J. Morrison in Coast to Coast 1965–66 157, I warned Rose. She was as silly as a wheel, too, but a man's got to do what he can to protect his daughters.
14. a. With allusion to sense 1 b, denoting a constituent part or element of something figured as a machine.
1625Bacon Ess., Seditions (Arb.) 405 So that if these three wheeles goe, Wealth will flow as in a Spring tide. a1628Preston Saints Daily Exerc. (1629) 116 It sets all the wheeles of the soul the right way. 1692W. Lloyd Pret. Fr. Invas. 15 The French King (the main Wheel in this designed Restauration). 1768Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 363 Nor does He find the wickedness of men improper wheels for carrying on His most important designs among them. 1771Wesley Jrnl. 31 Mar. (1827) III. 415 In the Methodist discipline, the wheels regularly stand thus: the Assistant, the Preachers, the Stewards, the Leaders, the people. 191619th Cent. Apr. 822 The protagonist sets the wheels of fate in motion.
b. wheels within wheels, less usually a wheel within a wheel (after Ezek. i. 16): a complexity of forces or influences; a complication of motives, designs, or plots; also gen. any complexity.
1679M. Prance Add. Narr. 32 Yet the Wheel within the wheel moved upon other grounds, God making use of his Soveraignty over his Creatures, in raising and stirring up One Nation or Person to punish the Evils of Another. 1709Shaftesbury Charac. (1711) I. 114 Thus we have Wheels within Wheels. And in some National Constitutions..we have one Empire within another. a1754E. Erskine Serm. Wrath of Man Wks. (1791) 711/2 There is a wheel within a wheel, which will turn matters about so, as the wrath of man shall praise God, and advance his interest, instead of ruining it. 1824L. Murray Engl. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 457 They are wheels within wheels; sentences in the midst of sentences. 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., There's a wheel within a wheel, or you wouldn't have got that. 1861Gurowski Diary (1862) 75 McClellan ought to..have direct action; and not refer to Scott. What is this wheel within a wheel? 1900‘H. S. Merriman’ Isle of Unrest vi, There are wheels within wheels..in the social world of Paris.
c. to see (what makes) the wheels go round and varr: to see how things work; chiefly fig. with reference to the operation of a business, organization, etc. colloq.
[1876J. Habberton Helen's Babies 11 ‘I want to see the wheels go round,’ said Budge.] 1922Broadcaster Oct. 149/1 The natural indifference of the fair sex to any knowledge of what ‘makes the wheels go round.’ 1923R. D. Paine Comrades of Rolling Ocean ix. 160, I want to watch a supercargo and see his wheels go round. 1979P. Levi Head in Soup iii. 58 How amateur we were. Those who know how the wheels turn are always bored. 1980N. Freeling Castang's City xv. 100 There's any amount of what makes the wheels go round... Feather⁓bedding and barrel-rolling.
d. = big shot s.v. shot n.1 22 c. Cf. big wheel (b) s.v. big a. B. 2. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
1933Amer. Speech VIII. ii. 55/2 Wheels, substitute for big shots, leaders of a gang. 1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) xviii. 149 After I got to be a wheel in the kitchen, I used to take care of Marietta by saving her the best of the food. 1963J. N. Harris Weird World Wes Beattie (1966) iii. 36 Well, in business, Howie is a sort of minor wheel... He owns pieces of things. Radio stations, a commercial film company, a night club. 1975Globe & Mail (Toronto) 12 Sept. 27/8 If politicians and business people and other wheels don't like it, he couldn't care less. 1980A. Fox Kingfisher Scream vi. 94 Some Pentagon wheel's flying in and Don feels he has to travel up there with him.
15. fig. A reiterated or recurring course of actions, events, or time; an endless round or cycle.
a1225Ancr. R. 322 Uorte leren us þet we of þe worldes torpelnesse, & of sunne hweol, ofte gon to schrifte. a1340Hampole Psalter xi. 9 Erthly godes þat tornes wiþ þe whele of seuen dayes. 1382Wyclif James iii. 6 The tunge..set afijre of helle, enflaumeth the wheel of oure birthe. 1871Alabaster Wheel of Law Pref. p. xiii, All Buddhists..call their religion the doctrine of ‘The Wheel of the Law’.
†b. Alch. A series of operations by which one element was supposed to be converted into another.
1471Ripley Comp. Alch. in Ashmole (1652) 133 The Wheele of Elements thou canst turne about. Ibid. 187 Then to wyn to thy desyre thou needst not be in dowte, For the Whele of our Phylosophy thou hast turnyd abowte. 1610B. Jonson Alch. ii. iii, I' haue another worke;..That three dayes since, past the Philosophers wheele, In the lent heat of Athanor; and 's become Sulphur o' nature.
†c. = turn n. 28. Obs. rare.
1422Yonge tr. Secr. Secr. 214 Me sholde ordeyne that euery gouernoure had tene Vicaries in his hoste, and euery vicarie ten lederis in his whele.
16. [Partly f. wheel v.] A movement like that of a wheel.
a. A movement in a circular or curved course; a circling motion (usually, through a single complete circle); a revolution.
1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vi. xxviii. 493 In these daunces they made twoo circles or wheeles [orig. dos ruedas de gente]. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 741 Satan..Throws his steep flight in many an Aerie wheele. 1805Cary Dante, Inf. xvi. 21 They..Whirl'd round together in one restless wheel. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xxxi, Amid his senses' giddy wheel. 1815― Guy M. xxii, A rough terrier dog..scampered at large in a thousand wheels round the heath. 1847Longfellow Ev. i. iv. 34 Merrily whirled the wheels of the dizzying dances.
b. A movement about an axis or centre; a rotation; a turn (usually, not completely around); spec. (Mil.) such a movement of a rank or body of troops about a pivot (pivot n. 2); occas. = cart-wheel n. 3.
a1660Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) I. 69 The captain mountinge on a white horse, did leade the musketires, without any wheeles, but went the high beaten way. 1672T. Venn Milit. Discipl. 19 There may be a Counter-march for the gaining of Ground; but I conceive them wholly useless but where you have not ground to make your Wheels. 1788D. Dundas Princ. Mil. Movem. App. 5 All wheels or filings made from the halt into column or line, are made at a quick step. 1797J. Bailey & Culley Agric. Northumbld. 123 At the first appearance of any person they set off in full gallop; and at the distance of two or three hundred yards, make a wheel round, and come boldly up again. 1832Prop. Reg. Instr. Cavalry ii. 10 Right Wheel. 1854R. S. Surtees Handley Cr. xl, Tea and coffee were enlivened by a collision between the footboys. Stiffneck with the tea-tray made a sudden wheel upon No. 2 with the coffee-tray. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xxviii, The reckless speed and practised wheel of the trained stock horses. 1904Johnston H. P. Liddon xi. 301 The ‘gamins’, who used to wheedle pennies from him by making ‘wheels’ for his amusement.
c. In Rugby Football. (See quot. 1897.)
1897[see back a. 1]. 1927H. Walpole Jeremy at Crale xvi. 284 Back they went, down again, the ball flung in. The Callendar forwards had it and manœuvred the finest wheel of the match, swinging round against all opposition.
17. Prosody. A set of short lines forming the concluding part of a stanza, usually five in number, varying in form and length, but generally having the first line riming with the last, and often the intervening three riming with each other; the first line in some types is very short, and is then called the bob.
1838Guest Engl. Rhythms II. 290 Besides the staves which originated in mixed and continuous rhime, there are others, which have sprung from the use of the Wheel and Burthen. By the latter of these terms I would understand the return of the same words at the close of each stave, and by the former the return of some marked and peculiar rhythm. Ibid. 332. 1906 Saintsbury Hist. Engl. Prosody I. 105 The bob being of two syllables, and the wheel an irregular but unmistakable ballad-quatrain.
V. Combinations.
18. General:
a. attrib. Of, pertaining to, consisting of, or connected with a wheel or wheels, as wheel alignment, wheel arch, wheel bearing, wheel-belt, wheel-box, wheel-boy (cf. wheelman 1), wheel brake, wheel-cage, wheel-case, wheel-circle, wheel-coulter, wheel-flange, wheel-grease, wheel-lathe, wheel-mark, wheel-nave, wheel-rim, wheel-ring, wheel-road, wheel-rod, wheel-rut, wheel-spoke, wheel-sweep (sweep n. 17 c), wheel-timber, wheel-tire, wheel-tooth, wheel-top, wheel-track, wheel-train (train n.1 15), wheel-tread (tread n. 10 b), wheel trim, etc.; furnished with or moving on a wheel or wheels (of vehicles = ‘wheeled’), as wheel-arquebus, wheel-bier, wheel-bridge, wheel-clock, wheel-crane, wheel-harrow, wheel hoe, wheel loader, wheel-machine, wheel mail, wheel-sled, wheel-vehicle.
1908Motor Man. (ed. 10) vi. 165 (heading) To test *wheel alignment. 1971‘D. Rutherford’ Clear Fast Lane 70 I'm not going on till we've had the wheel-alignment checked. There's..a service station ten kilometres on.
1935Automobile & Carriage Builders' Jrnl. Mar. 45 (caption) Details of the *wheelarch, scuttle ventilator and rear locker. 1983Buses Feb. 57/1 Longitudinal seating provided over the rear wheelarches.
1855tr. Labarte's Arts Mid. Ages x. 369 These arms were denominated *wheel-arquebuses [F. arquebuses à rouet].
1892Photogr. Ann. II. 390 The castors at the front feet work upon *wheel bearings.
1884W. S. B. McLaren Spinning (ed. 2) 158 There can be no slipping of the twine *wheel-belt.
1898F. D. How Bp. Walsham How 371 A simple *wheel-bier decorated with flowers received the coffin.
1853Dickens Bleak Ho. liii, [A carriage] with silver *wheel-boxes. 1892Black Wolfenberg xi, The solitary figure slowly pacing up and down by the wheel-box [of a ship].
1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 423 Little or no attendance is required from *wheel-boys or followers.
1936Discovery July 228/2 The average pilot regards his *wheel brakes as an assistance to ground taxying rather than as a means of arresting his run. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia I. 378/1 Wheel brakes are generally hydraulically operated.
a1700Evelyn Diary 7 Aug. 1641, The *wheel-bridg, which engine his Excellency had made to run over the moate when they storm'd the castle.
1889Mivart Orig. Hum. Reas. 268 A squirrel or white mouse which turns in its *wheel-cage.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Wheel-case, a stout paper case,..filled with composition,..tied to the rim of a wheel or rotating piece of fire-works. c1384*Whele sercle [see 8].
1671Hunt Abeced. Schol. 110 By the Press we make men immortal, by *Wheel-clocks we are made companions of time. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 77 Automata..are certainly not older than wheel-clocks.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Wheel-colter, a sharp-edged wheel running in advance of the breast of the plow, to cut the sod or weeds in the line of the furrow.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) ii, Crone, a *wheel-crane, built on a wharf.
a1663Killigrew Parson's Wedd. ii. vi. (1664) 99 Ever since yellow starch and *wheel Fardingales were cry'd down.
1859Newton's Lond. Jrnl. Arts 1 Feb. 115 The pressure of the *wheel-flange will tend to crush any obstructing substance upon the chairs.
1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 269/1 Axungia,..*wheele grease. 1901Academy 8 June 495/2 Derby, with its locomotives and everlasting Midland wheel-grease.
1404Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 399, j *qwhele harow.
1858C. L. Flint Milch Cows 193 In weeding, a little *wheel-hoe is invaluable. 1911Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 22 Apr. 9/6 (Advt.), We carry a full line of Garden Drills, Double and Single Wheel Hoes.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Wheel-lathe, a lathe for turning railway-wheels and other large work.
1971*Wheel loader [see dozer2].
1770Forbes Jrnl. (1886) 288 A Wooden Bridge..by which Horses and *Wheel-machines do easily Cross the Water.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xxvii, It was problematical whether the contractor was running a *wheel mail or not.
1854R. S. Surtees Handley Cr. xxxix, Following the old *wheel-marks on the gravel.
1707Mortimer Husb. 332 The Witch-Elm..is good for *Wheel-naves.
1513Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 162 The payntit povne..Kest vp his taill, a provd plesand *quheil rym. 1893Outing (U.S.) XXII. 133/2 My rear wheel-rim.
1766Complete Farmer s.v. Fence, This timber is of excellent service..for ploughs, axle-trees, *wheel-rings, harrows, &c.
1824Scott St. Ronan's i, To my own contemporaries, who have known *wheel-road, bridle-way, and footpath for thirty years. 1882Morris in Mackail W.M. (1899) II. 67 The wheel-roads across the downs are doubtful.
1598Hakluyt Voy. I. 95 The breadth betweene the *wheele-ruts of one of their cartes. 1829Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 59 Little is laid open to us but two wheel-ruts and two hedges.
1570Rec. Inverness (New Spalding Club) I. 195 That na *quheill sleddis..cum vpon the brig.
1556Withals Dict. (1562) 19/1 A *whele spoke, radius vel modiolus. 1707Mortimer Husb. 326 Oak..for..Shingles, Wainscott, Wheel Spoakes. 1891Hardy Tess xxxiii, It had stout wheel-spokes, and heavy felloes.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1244 The Pulborough stone paving of the *wheel sweep.
1376Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 584 Rob'o Yoill, carpentario, culpanti *qweltimber. 1573Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc. 1893) 139 Item bords cowper tymber wheles and whele tymber. 1662Atwell Faithf. Surveyour 132 Plow-timber, cart-timber, wheel-timber. 1792Descr. Kentucky 41 In 1787 were exported Sets of wheel timbers 1,056.
1831J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 145 According as the metal is intended to be reduced to the strength of *wheel-tyre, hoop-iron, or different sized bars.
1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 509 The points of the *wheel-teeth must not be rounded off.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxvii. (Percy Soc.) 118 Beholdynge Mars how wonderly he stode, On a *whele top with a lady of pryde.
1552Huloet, *Whele tracte or rutte, orbita. c1820S. Rogers Italy, Naples 115 The wheel-track worn for centuries. 1859Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1871) II. 285 A vineyard, with a wheel-track through the midst of it.
1888Cassell's Encycl. Dict., *Wheel-train, a number of wheels so arranged that the revolution of one causes the revolution of all. 1735–6*Wheel-tread [see tread n. 10 b].
1976Ilkeston Advertiser 10 Dec. 3/4 (Advt.), Morris 1800 (Princess style) Saloon (1975 ‘P’)... Fitted radio, *wheel-trims etc. 1983Which? Sept. 435/2 However, all of the ‘MG’ wheel trims fell off at some time.
1734J. Rowe (title) All sorts of wheel-carriage improved;..Waggons, Carts, Coaches, and all other *Wheel-Vehicles. 1836Carlyle New Lett. (1904) I. 48 The wheel-vehicles making no noise.
b. Objective, as wheel-bearer (= rotifer), wheel-cutter, wheel-maker, wheel-tapper, wheel-turner; wheel-bearing, wheel-changing, wheel-cutting, wheel-greasing, wheel-resembling, wheel-turning ns. and adjs.; instrumental, as wheel-driven, wheel-going, wheel-made, wheel-marked, wheel-smashed, wheel-spun, wheel-turned, wheel-worn adjs.; similative, parasynthetic, etc., as wheel-broad, wheel-footed, wheel-like adjs.
1861H. J. Slack Marv. Pond-life 23 Following the Protozoa, come the Rotifera, or *Wheel-bearers. 1877Wood Nature's Teach., Optics ii. 306 Soon after the powers of the microscope became known, these Wheel-bearers were discovered.
1846Patterson Zool. 6 The order itself Rotifera, or *wheel-bearing.
1974Harrod's Christmas Catal. 69/2 Lotus..scale model: complete with *wheel brace for wheel changing.
1670Dryden Conq. Granada i. Prol., *Wheel-broad hats.
1843Penny Cycl. XXVII. 308/2 *Wheel-cutting..comprehends the modes of cutting the teeth in the wheels used by watch and clock makers. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 88 The circular brass plate in a wheel-cutting engine.
1972*Wheel-driven [see salt a.1 1 c].
1788Cowper Gratitude 9 This *wheel-footed studying chair.
1844Kinglake Eothen i, At Semlin..I had come, as it were, to the end of this *wheel-going Europe.
1835–6Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 607/1 The cilia constitute the..*wheel-like organs of the Rotiferous Infusoria.
1888Jrnl. Derbysh. Archæol. Soc. X. 50 *Wheel-made pottery in the barrows of the district.
14..Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 688/15 Hic rotarius, *whelmaker. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 1154 The principle which directs the modern wheel-maker.
1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 398/1 Along a wide and *wheel-marked trail.
1596R. Linche Diella (1877) 68 Great Gouernour of (*wheele-resembling) Heauen.
a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, *Wheelspun, very stout worsted yarn, spun on the common large wheel.
1881Instr. Census Clerks (1885) Index 178 *Wheel tapper.
1837Wheelwright tr. Aristophanes II. 293 O thou clear lustre of the *wheel-turn'd lamp.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Wheel-turning Lathe, one with two very solid head-stocks with large face-plates, and two slide-rests operated by a ratchet-feed from an overhead rock-shaft.
1727Broome Jason & Medea Poems 242 Along the *Wheel worn Road they hold their way. 1781Cowper Expost. 21 The chariots bounding in her wheel-worn streets. 1944Blunden Shells by Stream 13 Its kingdom is the farm, the farmer's lane Its wheelworn churchway from the lonely road.
19. Special Combinations: wheel-animal, -animalcule = rotifer; wheel arrangement, the relative positioning of driving wheels and idle wheels on a locomotive; wheel-assembler, one who fits together the parts of the wheels of bicycles, etc.; so wheel-assembly, the operation of doing this; wheel-back, a back resembling a wheel, characteristic of chairs made by Heppelwhite about 1775; also a chair with such a back; wheel balance Mech., an even distribution of mass about the axis of a wheel so that it rotates without wobbling or vibrating; so wheel balancing, the process of achieving this for the wheels of a motor vehicle; wheel-barometer, a mercurial barometer having a float attached to a string passing over a pulley-wheel on which the index turns; wheel-base, the distance between the points of contact of the front and back wheels of a vehicle, as a bicycle or railway-carriage, with the ground or rail; wheel bay = wheel well below; † wheel-bed, a trundle-bed; wheel-bird, a local name for the night-jar or goat-sucker, from its cry suggesting the noise of a spinning-wheel; wheel-boat, a boat with wheels, esp. (Sc.) a steamboat with paddle-wheels; wheel brace, (a) a tool for screwing and unscrewing nuts on the wheel of a vehicle; (b) a kind of hand drill worked by the turning of a wheel; wheel-bug, a large reduviid insect (Prionidus cristatus) of the southern United States and W. Indies, with a semicircular serrated crest suggesting a cog-wheel; wheel car, a simple farm-cart (see quot. 1931); wheel-chain (see quot.); wheel clamp, a clamp designed to be locked to one of the wheels of an illegally parked motor vehicle to immobilize it; hence as v. trans.; so wheel clamping vbl. n. and ppl. a.; wheel-cross, a variety of ring-cross with arms radiating from a small circle in the centre of the ring; wheel-dog Canad., the dog harnessed nearest to the sleigh in a dog team; wheel-draught, a current of smoke and hot air in a steam-engine, circulating continuously in one direction; wheel-dwelling, -hut Archæol. = wheel-house 3; † wheel-fire [mod.L. ignis rotæ], in Old Chem., a fire completely encompassing a crucible; wheel-guard, (a) a circular guard on a sword or dagger; (b) a guard to protect a wheel from dirt or injury, or to prevent it from chafing some other part of the vehicle or machine; wheel-head, (a) the nave or central part of a wheel; (b) ‘the headstock of a spinning-mule’ (Eng. Dial. Dict.); (c) ‘the lathe-head of a seal-engraver's engine’ (Cent. Dict.); wheel-horse, a horse harnessed between the shafts of a vehicle, next to the wheels, as distinguished from a leader; fig. a person who bears the chief burden of a business; wheel-insect = wheel-animal; wheel-iron (see quot. 1837); wheel-ladder (see quot. 1888); wheel landing Aeronaut., a landing (of an aircraft with a tail-wheel or tail-skid) in which the main wheels touch down first, followed by the tail; wheel-map (see quot. 1899); wheel-money, name for certain prehistoric metallic objects, supposed by some to be money, made in the form of a wheel, i.e. of a cross surrounded by a ring; wheel-organ Zool., the trochal disc of a rotifer; wheel-pair, a pair of wheel-horses; wheel pants Aeronaut. (see quot. 1956); wheel pen, a pen with a small toothed wheel instead of nibs, for tracing dotted lines (Webster 1920); wheel-piece, (a) a lateral part of a car-truck, supporting the pedestals or axle-boxes; (b) a post fixed beneath a door-sill on each side, to take the strain of the wheels of a vehicle when passing over it; wheel-pit, (a) a space enclosed by masonry for a large wheel, as a fly-wheel or turbine, to turn in; (b) dial. a whirlpool; wheel-plate, (a) the part of a solid wheel between the rim and the hub; (b) see quot. 1892; wheel-plough, a plough having wheels running on the ground to reduce the friction or regulate the depth of the furrow; wheel-press, (a) a form of rotary printing-press; (b) a hydraulic press for moulding a solid wheel, or for fixing it on the axle; wheel-race, the part of a mill-race in which the mill-wheel is fixed; wheel-rood = wheel-cross; wheel-rope, Naut., † (a) cf. quot. 1495 in 1 b; (b) a rope passing round the barrel of the steering-wheel to the tiller; wheel-seat, the part of an axle encircled by the wheel (Knight Dict. Mech. 1884); wheel-set, a pair of wheels attached to an axle; wheel-shaped a., having the shape of a wheel; spec. in Bot. = rotate a.; † wheel-sick a., giddy; wheel-skate, a roller-skate; so wheel-skater, wheel-skating; wheel slip, the failure of the wheels of a vehicle to grip the surface on which they are travelling, so that they slip instead of rolling; also (rare) as v. intr.; wheel-spicule, Zool. one of certain disk-shaped calcareous concretions, with an appearance of radiating spokes, in the skin of some holothurians; also, a wheel-shaped spicule in sponges; wheel spin, the spinning of the wheels of a vehicle, caused by hard acceleration of the engine combined with the failure of the wheels to take a grip on a slippery surface; wheel-spur (ME. -spore), the ridge on the inner side of a wheel-rut (cf. spoor n.1, and cart-spur s.v. cart n. 6); wheel-stitch (see quot.); wheel-stock (local), (a) the nave of a wheel, or timber to be used for this; (b) wood materials for wheel-making; wheel-stone, a fossil consisting of a detached joint of the stem of an encrinite, and having the form of a circular disk with a central perforation; an entrochite; wheel-swarf [swarf n.2], the pasty substance produced by the friction of a grindstone and the cutlery ground upon it, consisting of a mixture of particles of stone and steel, and used as an air-tight coating in steel-manufacture; wheel-tax, a tax on wheeled carriages; wheel-tracery, tracery radiating from a centre, as in a wheel-window; wheel-tree, (a) a S. American tree (Aspidosperma excelsum), also called paddle-wood (cf. quot. 1866 s.v. paddle n. 11); (b) an Australian tree (Stenocarpus sinuatus) with flowers in circular clusters; (c) Mining (see quot. 1886); wheel vat, in Tanning = pin-wheel n. 3; wheel-way, a way, road, or track along which wheeled vehicles run; also fig. (cf. rut n.2 1 c); wheel well, the recess, under the wing of a vehicle, into which the wheel fits, or, on an aircraft, into which the landing gear is retracted; † wheel-whirl (see quot.); wheel-window, a circular window with mullions radiating from the centre like the spokes of a wheel (= Catherine wheel 2); wheel-wise adv., in the manner or form of a wheel; (of swimming) with the arms moving like the spokes of a wheel; wheel wobble, vibration of the wheels of a vehicle in motion, usu. when travelling at some speed; also fig. See also wheel-band, wheelbarrow, etc.
1788Encycl. Brit. II. 28/1 The *Wheel-Animal, or Vorticella..is found in rain water that has stood some days.
1834Lancet 24 May 290/2 We see in this *wheel-animalcule, the hydatina senta, many of those muscular bands passing down longitudinally from the head, nearly as we saw in the large holothuria.
1912Railway Mag. Mar. 203/1 Of the total number of engines mentioned, 80 were of the 2–2–2–0 *wheel arrangement. 1966K. Möller Amer. & Brit. Railway English 43, 0–8–0 is a notation for a wheel arrangement of eight driving wheels and no leading or trailing wheels. A great number of wheel arrangements have special names, originating with the railway on which they were first used.
1897Outing (U.S.) XXX. 277/2 All through the arts of the *wheel-assemblers.
Ibid. 279/2 They are then sent to the *wheel-assembly department, to receive the bearings, spokes and rims.
1902W. H. Hackett Decorative Furnit. xi. 133 A set of six typical Heppelwhite [sic] chairs..had ‘*wheel’ backs, on taper legs, with cross stretchers. 1909G. O. Wheeler Old Engl. Furnit. (ed. 2) 489 Heppelwhite's wheel-back chair..may be found with cabriole legs, and later with typical straight tapered ones. 1927W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 90 The revival of Welsh dressers, wheel-backs and ladderbacks. 1968J. Arnold Shell Bk. Country Crafts 133 In the hand-made ‘wheel⁓back’ there is the vestigial hub in the centre, but for economy this is absent from the factory-made splat.
1946W. H. Crouse Automotive Mech. xxiv. 533 *Wheel balance can be checked in several ways. 1962Which? Car Suppl. Oct. 139/2 Severe vibration developed throughout the car at speeds over 65 mph and a further check of wheel balance failed to overcome this.
1951I. Frazee et al. Automotive Suspensions x. 276 (heading) *Wheel balancing. 1977Wheel balancing [see shimmy n.2 2].
1665–6Phil. Trans. I. 155 My *Wheel-barometer I could never fill so exactly with Mercury, as to exclude all Air. 1840Hutton's Recr. Math. 652 Several expedients have been adopted for lengthening the scale of the barometer... The most popular expedient is that adopted in what is called the wheel barometer.
1886Jrnl. Franklin Inst. Mar. 201 The distance between the supporting wheels is four feet, which thus forms the rigid *wheel-base of the truck.
1976‘A. Hall’ Kobra Manifesto xv. 200 The problem was to keep my body arched against the curved top of the *wheelbay, giving me a chance of escaping the wheels when they slammed home and locked.
1556Richmond Wills (Surtees) 92 On pare of bed stocks, one pare for a *qwele bedd. 1589Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc. 1860) 206 One standinge bedd and a wheelebed in y⊇ parlor. 1619Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 238 For a wheele bedd vjs.
1817Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. X. i. 147 This species [European Goatsucker] makes a..noise, which has been compared to that of a large spinning wheel,..and has on that account been called the *wheel bird. 1862[see wheeler 6].
1834Marryat Peter Simple viii, ‘How did you come from Glasgow?’ ‘By the *wheel-boat, or steam-boat, as they ca'd it, to Lunnon.’ 1864Webster, Wheel-boat, a boat with wheels, to be used either on water or upon inclined planes or railways.
1920Motor Man. (ed. 23) xiv. 144 The most popular form of fitting is by means of separate bolts carried on the fixed hub, to which the pressed-steel wheel is held by a number of capped nuts which can be detached by a *wheel brace. 1964F. Preston Man makes Hole 6/2 The hand drill or wheel brace is of fairly recent origin, although it derives from the so-called bevel drill widely made in Germany. 1974Wheel brace [see wheel changing, sense 18 b above]. 1975R. A. Salaman Dict. Tools 187/2 Drill, hand (Wheel Brace..)..The modern form of Hand Drill was an American innovation of about 1870 which reached this country about the turn of the century. 1984B. Francis AA Car Duffer's Guide 38/2 Then, with the wheelbrace, slacken off all the wheel nuts about half a turn.
1815Kirby & Sp. Entomol. iv. (1818) I. 110 The *wheel-bug can..communicate an electric shock to the person whose flesh it touches. 1868Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 316 The Reduvius, or wheel-bug, is found in gardens, feeding voraciously upon caterpillars.
1931Antiquity June 185 The special features of the *wheel-car are..(a) the great length..of the body..; (b) the position of the axle tree above..the main beams of the frame; (c) the bumpers..; and (d) the embryo cart structure. 1968J. Arnold Shell Bk. Country Crafts xi. 163 Round about Clun, they knew it [sc. a gambo] as a wheel-car.
1891H. Patterson Naut. Dict. 194 *Wheel Chains, chains used in place of the rope for connecting the steering wheel and the tiller.
1980Daily Tel. 2 Jan. 3 (heading) Car park offenders face *wheel clamps. 1981Times 19 Nov. 3 Illegal parking in London has become so widespread that the Government may bow to police demands to be allowed to use wheel clamps to immobilize offending vehicles. 1983Daily Tel. 14 July 19/1 Cars belonging to diplomats will no longer be wheel-clamped.
1980Daily Tel. 2 Jan. 3/2 More officers will be available to tow away dangerously parked vehicles and the use of the ‘Denver Shoe’ a *wheel clamping device, is being considered. 1983Sunday Tel. 15 May 3/1 The wheel clamping team..will consist of one sergeant, eight police constables, 28 vehicle removal officers and eight traffic wardens.
1882Worsaae Industr. Arts Denmark 66 The ring-cross was sometimes employed indiscriminately with the *wheel-cross to indicate the wheels of the sun-carriage.
1922G. C. F. Pringle Tillicums 85, I put a smaller dog..in the lead and hitched Steal up next the sleigh as my ‘*wheel-dog’. 1965A. V. Wilson No Man stands Alone 29, I firmly believe that the ‘wheel-dog’, next to the sled, can upset one any time he wishes.
1871Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 529 A *wheel-draught; that is to say, the current of flame and smoke, after passing along the bottom of the boiler, rises up at the end.
1931V. G. Childe Skara Brae vii. 174 The Jarlshof hut..illustrates..the normal construction of a *wheel-dwelling.
1662R. Mathew Unl. Alch. 165 Make a good fire of Charcole about it, wch is called a *Wheel-fire of cementation.
1860Hewitt Anc. Armour II. 258 The guard took a variety of forms, as the cross-guard, that composed of two knobs, and the *wheel-guard. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Wheel-guard Plate, (Ordnance), an iron plate on each side of the stock of a..gun-carriage to prevent its being chafed by the wheels when turning.
1845S. Judd Margaret i. vi, On naked beams above were suspended..*wheelheads, &c. 1900Daily News 17 Jan. 7/1 The wheel-head crosses of Ireland.
1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4424/1 Which enjoins Waggoners to draw with a Pole between the *Wheel-Horses. 1827Hare Guesses Ser. i. 10 He falls into it as certainly as a new wheel-horse in a mail. 1911H. S. Harrison Queed xxvii, The only speech was made by the Solon who had the bill called up, a familiar organization wheelhorse.
1931V. G. Childe Skara Brae vii. 173 The relics from the *wheel-huts round the broch of Jarlshof cannot be distinguished from those from the broch itself.
1800J. Anderson Recreat. II. 257 There has been discovered among the animalcula infusoria, one which..has been called by the English, the *wheel insect.
1829Sporting Mag. (N.S.) XXIII. 388 What we call a *wheel-iron, placed, as usual on the nose of an axle-tree. 1837W. B. Adams Carriages 87 Splinter Bar Stays, to resist the action of the draught. Formerly these were affixed to the ends of the axles, and called ‘wheel irons’.
1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 36 *Wheele ladder for haruest. 1710D. Hilman Tusser Rediv. Sept. (1744) 117 Cart Ladders and Wheel Ladders are Frames on the Sides and Tail, to support light Loads as Hay, &c. 1888Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Wheel-ladder, a lade for the back part of a wagon, having a small roller or windlass attached, by which the ropes for binding the load can be strained tight.
1928N. Macmillan Art of Flying x. 142 With many aeroplanes..too slow speed of approach makes the elevator unable to apply the necessary load quickly enough. This results in a *wheel landing with the tail up. 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 13 June 8 The second pilot..said that the impact was no worse than a bad wheel landing.
1899Geog. Jrnl. Mar. 226 The mediæval *wheel-maps, in which Jerusalem was accepted as the centre of the world, whence the main geographical lines radiated like the spokes of a wheel. 1907T. C. Middleton Geogr. Knowl. Discov. Amer. 18 The ‘wheel-maps’ of the globe, devised by St. Isidore.
1861Archæol. Cambrensis Ser. iii. VII. 215 These specimens of *wheel and ring money, which were fabricated in the latter place [sc. Caltu].
1878Bell tr. Gegenbaur's Comp. Anat. 138 This *wheel-organ—so-called from the movement of its cilia—varies greatly in character.
1794in Chamb. Jrnl. (1858) 9 Oct. 234/1 The postilion so managed the *wheel-pair, that the princesses..were..enabled to leap from the carriage without injury.
1956U.S. Air Force Dict. 567/1 *wheel pants, a set of streamlined fairings around each wheel in certain fixed landing gears. 1971Flying Apr. 40/1 The 172 did appear with clean, 175-style wheel-pants.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §889 The sill of the door..sunk level with the threshing-floor, and supported by two stout posts or *wheel-pieces.
1828Craven Gloss., *Wheel-pit, a whirlpool. 1850S. Judd R. Edney iii. 43 The subordinate branches were carried on below, under the ‘bed’ or main floor of the mill, near the wheel-pit. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Wheel-pit, a walled hole for the heavy fly-wheel of a train of rolls, etc.
1859Carriage Builders' Art Jrnl. i. 7/2 In Broughams,..when a *wheel-plate twenty-two inches in diameter is used, a shortening of nine inches is gained between the fore and hind wheels. 1881J. W. Burgess Coach-Building 92 The central circle is the wheel-plate, or, as the Americans term it, the fifth wheel. 1892Lockwood's Dict. Terms Mech. Engin., Quadrant Plate, or Wheel Plate.—The plate which carries the stud wheels in the change wheel series for screw cutting in the lathe.
1707Mortimer Husb. 38 The Hertfordshire *Wheel-Plough. 1710D. Hilman Tusser Rediv. Sept. (1744) 119 A Wheel-Plough for Stony, and a Swing Plough for Clay. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 646 It must be admitted, even by the advocates of the wheel-plough, that..they cannot by any means be brought so handily to follow the undulations of the surface.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Wheel-press, a hydrostatic press for forcing car-wheels on to their axles and removing them. 1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 185 The wheel-press of Benjamin Dearborn.
1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 104 The *wheel-race should always be built in a substantial manner with masonry.
1862H. Marryat Year in Sweden II. 259 Here, above the chancel arch, hung a *wheel-rood of exceeding beauty.
1485Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896) 37 *Whele Ropes feble..j. 1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 483 The pressure of the helm strained a new wheel-rope. 1823― Jrnl. 358 We lay to under a close-reefed main top sail, until new wheel-ropes were arranged.
1969Jane's Freight Containers 1968–69 102/1 Provision has to be made for *wheelsets to be available at the destination terminal. 1980Sci. Amer. Aug. 33/3 A revolutionary bogie design which prevents wear on the wheel flange as the train negotiates a bend. No longer is the wheelset banging from side to side, abrading the flanges.
1775J. Jenkinson tr. Linnæus' Brit. Plants 231 *Wheel-shaped. 1895R. Davey Sultan & Subj. (1897) I. 15 An enormous wheel-shaped box, divided into compartments.
1670Baxter Cure Ch. Div. 141 As boyes when they have made themselves *wheel-sick with turning round will lay hold on the next post to keep them from falling.
1870Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. Suppl. 8/1 A pair of *wheel skates.
1876‘Ouida’ Winter City vi, The *wheelskaters, and poker-players..of our time.
1875Field 2 Jan. 1/3 The *wheel-skating at Brighton and at Prince's.
1945H. J. Massingham Wisdom of Fields x. 193 A tractor was ploughing in the stubble... The machine was wheel-slipping. *Wheel-slip means [sc. causes] soil-panning and winter-souring of it;..it means waste. 1960Times 14 Mar. 21/2 Wheel-slip, with wheeled tractors, can be an intolerable nuisance. 1983Austral. Transport Feb. 21/2 The locomotives are equipped with greatly improved wheel slip controls.
1877Encycl. Brit. VII. 639/2 *Wheel-spicule of Chirodota vitiensis.
1928Daily Tel. 11 Sept. 15/6 He took a grassy approach too wide, and had a *wheel spin, from which he cleverly recovered. 1937Times 13 Apr. p. xvi/4 On a sandy gradient of about 1 in 2, the vehicle was stopped and started, ascending and descending. No wheel spin or baulking was noticed. 1956Railway Mag. Nov. 722/1 Steps already had been taken to check wheelspin. 1979R. Lewis Violent Death i. 7 The van came lurching..from under the trees... Wheel⁓spin threw up a mist of pine needles.
c1440Promp. Parv. 524/1 *Whele spore (K., H. welspore), orbita. a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia s.v., If, to avoid the deep rut, a carriage drawn by a single horse was ventured upon the quarter, the horse was obliged to make the wheel-spur his path, often a very unsafe one, particularly in stiff soils.
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 195/2 *Wheel Stitch, a stitch resembling a spider's web, and worked into the material, and not over an open space, like English wheel and other lace Wheels.
1835Dav. Webster Rhymes 11 (E.D.D.) My mither..bang'd her bobbin down on the *wheel stock. 1884C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 515 Manufacturers of cooperage and wheel stock. 1888Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Wheel-stock..the nave of a wheel.
1846Patterson Zool. 46 The detached vertebræ are well described by the common English name of ‘*wheel-stones’.
1831J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 229 In Sheffield, a mass of the stiff ferruginous mud, called *wheelswarf,..is generally used.
1780A. Young Tour in Ireland ii. xvii. 75 Taxes are inconsiderable, for there is no land tax, no poor rates..only half a *wheel tax. 1888Daily News 5 Dec. 5/4 There had been enough of this sort of wheel-tax policy tried in other places.
1913M. Barrett Scott. Monast. of Old ii. v. 178 The west window contained a splendid specimen of *wheel tracery.
1882J. Smith Dict. Pop. Names Plants 438 *Wheel Tree, or Paddle-wood (Aspidosperma excelsum)..when cut transversely the section has the appearance of the rays of a wheel. 1886J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 72 Wheel-tree, a prop to which the pulley on a short self-acting incline is fastened. 1885*Wheel vat [see wheel v. 17].
a785Charter of Offa in Birch Cartul. Sax. I. 342 And on *hweoᵹel weᵹ to þan rahheᵹe. 1829I. Taylor Enthus. vi. (1867) 114 To lie supine in the ruinous wheel-way of chance. 1889Century Mag. Aug. 570/2 Nearer the wheelway and upon the outer edges of the public road.
1959F. D. Adams Aeronaut. Dict. 181/2 *Wheel well, a recess or hollow in a wing, fuselage, etc. for a retractable landing-gear wheel. 1961N. D. van Sickle Mod. Airmanship (ed. 2) iv. 103 Having the openings closed while the gear is down is advantageous because the tires will not throw foreign matter into the wheel well during ground movement. 1974Hot Rod Yearbk. XIV. 219/1 Epoxy paint..was also sprayed on rear inner wheel wells. 1975Times 31 Mar. 4/1 (caption) A Boeing 727 arrives at Saigon airport..with the body of a South Vietnamese soldier hanging from the wheelwell.
1608Topsell Serpents 213 The tayle [of the Newt] standeth out betwixt the hinder-legges in the midle, like the figure of a *wheele-whirle [tr. Gesner: rhombi figuræ quadam similitudine].
1821M. Browne Jrnl. 2 May in Diary of Girl in France (1905) 25 There are [in Amiens Cathedral] two pretty painted *wheel-windows. 1835R. Willis Archit. Mid. Ages vi. 63 Wheel windows are exceedingly prevalent in Italy; unfortunately the tracery is often removed.
1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 105 Embossed christall eies affixed, wherein *wheelewise were circularly ingrafted sharpe pointed diamonds. 1859W. H. Gregory Egypt I. 276 Swimming as schoolboys call it wheel-wise.
1930Engineering 7 Feb. 163/1 Concerned with problems of suspension and *wheel wobble and shimmy. 1961Times 17 Jan. 14/1 Apart from an alarming wheelwobble early in their second innings West Indies have had by far the best of today's play. 1978A. Waugh Best Wine Last vii. 56 It [sc. a car] developed a wheel wobble at between forty-eight and fifty miles an hour.
Senses 12–19 in Dict. become 13–20. Add: [III.] 12. U.S. slang (orig. Criminals'). A leg. Chiefly in pl.
1927Dialect Notes V. 466 [In underworld jargon] Wheel, a leg. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §121/62 Legs,..twigs, underpinnings, underpins, understandings, uprights, wheels. 1977C. McFadden Serial xlviii. 102/2 His wife still had terrific wheels. 1985‘E. McBain’ Snow White & Rose Red ix. 164 Big blonde job, maybe five-nine, five-ten. Blue eyes. Tits out to here. Wheels like Betty Grable.
[V.] [19.] wheel-horse (further fig. examples); spec. in U.S. Pol., an experienced and conscientious party member.
1867New Mexican 24 Aug. 2/2 Carleton..worked like a beaver for Perea, and so did Perfecto Armijo, the Perea *wheel horse in that county then. 1932Atlantic Monthly Feb. 187/2 Scandals..that..sent various high Republican wheel horses to the penitentiary. 1991Economist 4 May 44/3 Another Minnesotan Rudy exploring the secondary job-market is ex-Senator Rudy Boschwitz, a faithful Republican wheel-horse until he lost in 1989 to that liberal-Democratic upstart, Paul Wellstone.
▸ wheels of industry n. (the functioning or progress of) manufacturing industry, conceived of as the wheels or workings of a machine.
1768W. Wilkie Fables 55 Just hope assists in all our toils; The wheels of industry it oils. 1840N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 490 The voice of poetry was too small and still to make itself heard amidst the din of the wheels of industry. 1866Ladies' Repository Oct. 613 The clatter of business is hushed, the wheels of industry stand still, but thought is busy and brings up the past for a calm review. 1941J. S. M. Simpson S. Afr. Fights 113 The wheels of industry travelled faster and faster. From Canada and the United States came motor parts and chassis, which would form the basis of armoured cars. 1992Sunday Times of India 19 Apr. 23/1 The ban by the transport operators would stop all trade and industrial activity in the state and choke up the wheels of industry.
▪ II. wheel, v.
Forms: see prec.
[f. wheel n.]
I. To move like a wheel (and connected senses).
*
1. a. intr. To turn or revolve about an axis or centre, like a wheel on its axle; to rotate; to whirl.
a1225Ancr. R. 356 Heo beoð her hweolinde ase hweoles þet ouerturneð sone, and ne lesteð none hwule. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. cvii. x, Now shipp with men do touch the skies:..For now the whirlwinde makes them wheele: Now stop'd in midst of broken round As drunckards use, they staggring reele. c1645Howell Lett. i. v. xi. (1890) 262 His Glory sound thou first Mobile, which mak'st all wheel In circle round. 1796H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Study Nat. (1799) I. 426 If the Earth wheels around it's axis. 1813Scott Trierm. iii. xxi, When the whirlwind's gusts are wheeling. 1819Shelley Mask of Anarchy lxxviii, Let the horsemen's scimitars Wheel and flash, like sphereless stars. 1886F. Harrison Choice of Bks. i. 23 The gates which lead to the Elysian fields may slowly wheel back on their adamantine hinges.
b. fig. of time, the seasons.
1660Stanley Hist. Philos. xiii. (1687) 859/2 When they beheld the course of the Heavens, and the various Seasons of the year, to wheel about, and return in certain order. a1849J. C. Mangan Poems (1859) 35 When Years have wheeled. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. ii. iii, I wait, and Time around me wheels.
c. To reel, as from giddiness; to be affected with giddiness. Also fig.
1593Nashe Christ's T. Wks. (Grosart) IV. 183 Why doe not all thinges wheele and swarue topsie-turuy? 1620[G. Brydges] Horæ Subs. 116 If these giddy goers bee forced to giue a reason for their wheeling vp and downe the streets. 1638‘R. Junius’ Drunkard's Char. 154 No man ever saw mee so much as wheele in the streets; I am therefore no drunkard. 1832Marryat Newton Forster xxvi, [His] head wheeled with the sudden change in his prospects.
2. a. trans. To turn (something) on or as on a wheel; to cause to revolve about an axis; to rotate; to cause to move in a circle or cycle.
Used with variety of context, lit. and fig.
c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 139 Fortune on loft And vnder eft gan hem to whielen bothe. c1480Henryson Fox, Wolf & Husb. xxvii, This fair is of fortoun: As ane cummis vp, scho quheillis ane vther doun. 1593Queen Elizabeth Boeth. iii. met. ix. 3 Thou..who time from first Bidst go, and stable stedy all elz dost while. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage iii. xvii. 284 In the execution of their rites, shaking and wheeling their heads like madde men. 1635R. N. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. iv. 532 Affaires in Court were not long wheeled about upon one Axell-tree. 1654Sir A. Johnston Diary (S.H.S.) II. 197 The Lord semes to be wheeling al things about to the re-establishing of that Covenant agayne. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 501 Now Heav'n..rowld Her motions, as the great first-Movers hand First wheeld thir course. 1668Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. iv. ii. 161 Others will have the Arm to be wheeled about by the Infraspinatus. 1820Keats Lamia ii. 64 While through the thronged streets your bridal car Wheels round its dazzling spokes. 1855E. Forbes Lit. Papers ix. 250 The Lamas, whose temples, modes of worship,..compendious methods of wheeling their prayers, [etc.]. 1875Browning Aristoph. Apol., Herakles 1397, I shall play Ixion's part quite out, the chained and wheeled.
b. spec. To twirl or flourish (a stick) in menace or challenge. Also absol. (in Irish use).
1617Moryson Itin. i. 243 If at any time we went slowly, hee wheeled his cudgell about his head, and crying Wohowe Rooe [etc.]. 1875Daily News 26 Feb., ‘Wheeling,’ said he, ‘is one of those challenges which is given by this energetic population to express their own anxiety for a free fight.’ 1893Le Fanu 70 Yrs. Irish Life iii. 32 One man ‘wheeled,’ as they called it, for his party; that is, he marched up and down, flourishing his blackthorn, and shouting the battle-cry of his faction.
3. Mil.
a. intr. Of a rank or body of troops: To turn, with a movement like that of the spokes of a wheel, about a pivot (pivot n. 2), so as to change front.
1579Digges Stratiot. 111 The Ruyters vse to Wheele about with their whole Troupe. 1671Milton P.R. iii. 323 He saw them in thir forms of battell rang'd, How quick they wheel'd. 1672Venn Milit. Discipl. 62 Right half ranks, wheel about to the right until they be even a breast with the front half files. 1744M. Bishop Life 212 The Colonel..said, wheel to the left of the Battalion. 1815Scott Guy M. xlvii, Leading file, to the right wheel—trot. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 9 Left wheel into line. Quick march.
b. trans. To cause (a rank or body of troops) to turn in this way.
1634Peacham Compl. Gentl. xx. 245 marg., Wheele the Body to the right hand. c1720De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 104, I wheeled off my troop. 1814Scott Wav. xxxix, He wheeled his little body of cavalry round the base of the castle. 1833Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 34 The ranks are then wheeled up.
4. a. intr. To turn so as to face in a different direction; to turn round or aside, esp. quickly or suddenly. Often with round, about, † off.
1639Fuller Holy War iii. xi. 127 The French and English wheeling about, charged the Turks most furiously. 1644Symonds Diary (Camden) 148 The rebells wheeled off behind their owne cannon and musqueteers. 1735Somerville Chase iii. 105 How to the Head they press, Justling in close Array, then more diffuse Obliquely wheel. 1784Cowper Task vi. 518 His steed Declin'd the death, and wheeling swiftly round..Baffled his rider. 1827Scott Highl. Widow v, A party of five Highland soldiers..wheeled suddenly into sight. 1867J. T. Headley Farragut & Nav. Comm. 575 [The captain] wheeled out of line and ran with a full head of steam on straight into the ironclad monster. 1888‘J. S. Winter’ Bootle's Childr. vii, He wheeled round from the window as if he was about to confront Halliday and offer to fight him on the spot.
b. fig. To change or reverse one's opinion, attitude, or course of action; to turn aside, deviate, decline from some course or attitude.
1632G. Herbert Church Militant 54 Plato and Aristotle were at a losse, And wheel'd about again to spell Christ-Crosse. 1663Heath Flagellum (1672) 27 Who had wheeled from his Loyalty during the War. a1716South Serm., 2 Thess. ii. 11 ii. Wks. 1727 IV. 413 From Independents they improved into Anabaptists. From Anabaptists into Quakers: From whence being able to advance no farther, they are in a fair Way to wheel about to the other Extreme of Popery. 1784P. Wright New Bk. Martyrs 807/2 Jeffreys summed up the evidence against the parson, but wheeled at last into this.
c. trans. To turn (a person, animal, or thing) round or aside.
1805Scott Last Minstr. ii. viii, So had he seen, in fair Castile, The youth in glittering squadrons start, Sudden the flying jennet wheel, And hurl the unexpected dart. 1829G. Head Forest Scenes N. Amer. 121 Wheeled round every now and then by the wind, we were enveloped in clouds. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy xix, Wheeling his horse suddenly round, he charged along the advancing front of the people.
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5. a. intr. To move like a point in the circumference of a wheel; to move in a circle, spiral, or similar curve; to circle, revolve; to go round about.
1600Holland Livy xxxiv. xiv, He commaunded two elect cohorts of footmen to wheele about the right flanke of the enemies. 1607Shakes. Cor. i. vi. 19, I was forc'd to wheele Three or four miles about. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 185, I might see him send two horsemen after me, who wheeling about the mountaines,..suddenly rushed vpon me. 1665Phil. Trans. I. 72 These two Planets have Moons wheeling about them. 1703Pope Thebais 441 The son of May..wheeling down the steep of heav'n he flies, And draws a radiant circle o'er the skies. 1726–46Thomson Winter 145 The cormorant on high Wheels from the deep. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xcviii, When all is gay..With sport and song,..And wheels the circled dance. 1863Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xxiv, The gulls that wheel and dip around me. 1892Kipling Barrack-room Ballads, L'Envoi ix, The old lost stars wheel back, dear lass, That blaze in the velvet blue.
fig.1661J. Stephens Procurations 128 But I wheel too far about. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 132 Those occurrences which wheeled in their Sphere. 1749Smollett Regicide iv. ii, Love, Jealousy, implacable Despair In Tempests wheel.
b. trans. To cause (something) to move in this way; to perform (a movement), trace (a course), spend (a time) in this way.
1725Pope Odyss. iv. 704 'Till the twelfth moon had wheel'd her pale career. 1750Gray Elegy ii, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight. 1808Scott Marm. vi. xx, Wheeling their march, and circling still, Around the base of Flodden hill. 1817Coleridge Sibyl. Leaves, Happy Husband iii, Transient joys, that..into tenderness soon dying, Wheel out their giddy moment. 1839Kemble Resid. Georgia (1863) 21 Hawks of every sort and size wheel their steady rounds above the rice-fields. 1846Tennyson Golden Year 24 The Sun flies forward to his brother Sun; The dark Earth follows, wheel'd in her ellipse.
6. transf.
a. intr. To extend in a circle or curve. ? Obs. rare.
1648Gage West Ind. xvii. 114 In a narrow passage where the way went wheeling. 1789J. Williams Min. Kingd. I. 112 Coal and coal metals..wave and wheel. 1791W. Gilpin Rem. Forest Scenery II. 120 A forest-lawn,..which wheeled around us in the form of a crescent.
†b. trans. To encircle, surround, encompass. Obs. rare.
1582Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 55 He spyed his person with Troian coompanye wheeled. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 783 Half these draw off, and coast the South With strictest watch; these other wheel the North.
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7. intr. To roll along like a wheel. rare.
1667Milton P.L. xii. 183 Haile mixt with fire must rend th' Egyptian skie And wheel on th' Earth, devouring where it rouls. 1875F. T. Buckland Log-Bk. 355 The waves at the outer end wheeled at a swift gallop.
II. To move on, or by means of, wheels.
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8. a. trans. To convey in a wheeled vehicle, or on a chair, sofa, etc. moving on wheels.
1601Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 139 For whellinge forth xxv quarters of colles, vjd. 1740E. Montagu Corr. (1906) I. 41 Lord Berkshire was wheeled into the rooms on Thursday night, where he saluted me with much snuff and civility. 1761Colman Jealous Wife i. 22 You shall clap Her into a Post-Chaise,..wheel Her down to Scotland. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xxix, Let the gardener..press the leaves into full barrows, and wheel them off, still they lie ankle-deep. 1888‘J. S. Winter’ Bootle's Childr. vi, She was able to totter to the sofa and be wheeled into the adjoining room.
b. fig. To pass or convey easily or smoothly, as if on wheels. rare.
1658Harrington Oceana 23 Through the paucity of her Citizens, her greater Magistracies are continually wheeled through a few hands. 1689Hickeringill Ceremony Monger vi. Wks. 1716 II. 444 We'll have as many Organs..if we have nothing else to do with our Money; or cannot tell how to wheel off an hour or two in Devotions. 1851Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi Wind. ii. 309 As some smooth river which has overflowed Will slow and silent down its current wheel A loosened forest.
c. colloq. To bring (someone) in, as for an interview, meeting, performance, etc. Also, with similar meaning, const. on, out. Also fig.
1970New Yorker 28 Feb. 29/3 The Administration wheels out what are at the moment issues..which everyone can agree on. 1977M. Allen Spence in Petal Park xviii. 78 Wheel Prendergast straight in when he arrives. 1978Daily Mirror 12 Jan. 2/4 The agreed quota for Japanese car imports in 1977 should be wheeled out again for 1978. 1983Listener 20 Oct. 27/1 ‘Celebrities’ were wheeled in before a studio audience. 1984Times 9 Feb. 11/5 This new element is wheeled in when cousins come to stay. Ibid. 15 Aug. 11/1 Kenny Everett..was wheeled on with other celebrities to warm up a Conservative rally for the Leader in the course of last year's general election campaign here. Ibid. 8 Dec. 6/4 Although his field is limited to southern France from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century, the French media wheels him out to make pronouncements on Giscard's reign, his reservations about Mitterand's regime, or whether Nazi war criminals like Barbie should be executed.
9. intr. To travel in or drive a wheeled vehicle; to go along on wheels, as a vehicle; mod. colloq. to ride a bicycle or tricycle, to ‘cycle’.
1721Ramsay Content 351 He found he could not walk,..and wheel'd away. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ., The Address, By the time he [sc. a coachman] had wheel'd round the court, and brought me up to the door. 1798Jane Austen Northang. Abb. xx, The chaise and four wheeled off with some grandeur. 1884Century Mag. Sept. 643/2 A youth on a bicycle, who wheeled attentively by her side. 1898Hamblen Gen. Manager's Story v. 48 Both trains were wheeling down under the bridge at a forty-mile gait.
10. a. trans. To push or draw (something) on wheels.
1784Cowper Task iv. 37 Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round. 1832Lytton Eugene Aram i. v, The sofa was wheeled into the hall where they dined. 1848Dickens Dombey xlix, He wheeled the table close against Florence on the sofa. 1885Law Times LXXIX. 47/1 A porter..put all the luggage on a trolley..and wheeled the trolley on to the platform. 1896H. G. Wells Wheels of Chance ix, The other man in brown had a bad puncture and was wheeling his machine.
b. To drive a car slowly, as when manœuvring into or out of a car park.
1962R. Unekis Chase (1963) vii. 20 Grozzo wheeled the Olds into the big parking area. 1974N. Freeling Dressing of Diamond 182 It was Castang who wheeled the Citroën out of the parking-lot. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 11 Dec. 8/2, I wheeled the bright-blue test car into a parking space.
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†11. ? To wind up the mechanism of: in quot. fig. Obs. rare.
1632Mason's Turke (ed. 2) Argt., There are other passages of Triuiall Inferior persons, Interwouen into this peice, which serue as a foyle to the Brauery and hight of the Tragedy, yet are Instruments aptly set going to wheele vp the worke.
III. Miscellaneous uses.
†12. intr. Of a peacock: To spread the tail in a circular form like a wheel. Also trans. with the tail as obj. Obs.
1513Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 1805 Prowde as a Pecocke whelynge full bryght. 1600Surflet Country Farm i. xix. 115 You neede no other signe then his [sc. the peacock's] viewing of himselfe, and couering of his whole bodie with the feathers of his taile, and then we say hee wheeleth. 1656W. Dugard tr. Comenius' Gate Lat. Unl. §137 The most fair is the Peacock, ever and anon wheeling his glorious tail. 1745tr. Columella's Husb. viii. xi.
13. trans. To make like a wheel; to give a circular or curved form to. rare.
1656W. Dugard tr. Comenius' Gate Lat. Unl. §203 The hair covereth the chiefest part of the head, being wheeled on the crown [capilli..rotati in vertice]. 1808Scott Marm. v. vi, At every turn, with dinning clang, The armourer's anvil clash'd and rang; Or toil'd the swarthy smith, to wheel The bar that arms the charger's heel.
14. To furnish with a wheel or wheels.
1661,1898[see wheeling vbl. n. f]. 1802H. Martin Helen of Glenross I. 46 She begged leave to paint, glaze, new carpet, and new wheel the old coach.
†15. To torture or ‘break’ on a wheel. Obs. rare.
1611[implied in wheeling vbl. n. h].
16. To form or shape on a wheel, as pottery.
17. Tanning. = pin-wheel v.
1885C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather 530 The skins next go into the England wheel vat..and are ‘wheeled’ in sumach liquor.
▪ III. wheel
see weel, wheal. |