Wheel /(hwēl)/

Wheel

n.
  1. A circular frame turning about an axis; a rotating disk, whether solid, or a frame composed of an outer rim, spokes or radii, and a central hub or nave, in which is inserted the axle, -- used for supporting and conveying vehicles, in machinery, and for various purposes; as, the wheel of a wagon, of a locomotive, of a mill, of a watch, etc.
    The gasping charioteer beneath the wheel Of his own car.
  2. Any instrument having the form of, or chiefly consisting of, a wheel.
  3. A spinning wheel. See under Spinning.
  4. An instrument of torture formerly used.
    His examination is like that which is made by the rack and wheel.
  5. A circular frame having handles on the periphery, and an axle which is so connected with the tiller as to form a means of controlling the rudder for the purpose of steering. (Naut.)
  6. A potter's wheel. See under Potter. (Pottery)
    Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
    — Jer. xviii. 3.
    Turn, turn, my wheel! This earthen jar A touch can make, a touch can mar.
  7. A firework which, while burning, is caused to revolve on an axis by the reaction of the escaping gases. (Pyrotechny)
  8. The burden or refrain of a song. (Poetry)
    You must sing a-down a-down, An you call him a-down-a. O, how the wheel becomes it!
  9. A bicycle or a tricycle; a velocipede.
  10. A rolling or revolving body; anything of a circular form; a disk; an orb.
  11. A turn revolution; rotation; compass.
    According to the common vicissitude and wheel of things, the proud and the insolent, after long trampling upon others, come at length to be trampled upon themselves.
    [He] throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel.

Phrases & Compounds
A wheel within a wheel
a complication of circumstances, motives, etc.
Balance wheel
See in the Vocab.
Bevel wheel
See under Bevel, Brake, etc.
Core wheel
A mortise gear.
Measuring wheel
an odometer, or perambulator.
Wheel and axle
one of the elementary machines or mechanical powers, consisting of a wheel fixed to an axle, and used for raising great weights, by applying the power to the circumference of the wheel, and attaching the weight, by a rope or chain, to that of the axle. Called also axis in peritrochio, and perpetual lever, -- the principle of equilibrium involved being the same as in the lever, while its action is continuous. See Mechanical powers, under Mechanical.
Wheel animal
any one of numerous species of rotifers having a ciliated disk at the anterior end.
Wheel barometer
See under Barometer.
Wheel boat
a boat with wheels, to be used either on water or upon inclined planes or railways.
Wheel bug
a large North American hemipterous insect (Prionidus cristatus) which sucks the blood of other insects. So named from the curious shape of the prothorax.
Wheel carriage
a carriage moving on wheels.
Wheel chains
the chains or ropes connecting the wheel and rudder.
Wheel cutter
a machine for shaping the cogs of gear wheels; a gear cutter.
Wheel horse
one of the horses nearest to the wheels, as opposed to a leader, or forward horse; -- called also wheeler.
Wheel lathe
a lathe for turning railway-car wheels.
Wheel lock
A letter lock. See under Letter.
Wheel ore
a variety of bournonite so named from the shape of its twin crystals. See Bournonite.
Wheel pit
a pit in the ground, in which the lower part of the fly wheel runs.
Wheel plow
a plow having one or two wheels attached, to render it more steady, and to regulate the depth of the furrow.
Wheel press
a press by which railway-car wheels are forced on, or off, their axles.
Wheel race
the place in which a water wheel is set.
Wheel rope
a tiller rope. See under Tiller.
Wheel stitch
a stitch resembling a spider's web, worked into the material, and not over an open space.
Wheel tree
a tree (Aspidosperma excelsum) of Guiana, which has a trunk so curiously fluted that a transverse section resembles the hub and spokes of a coarsely made wheel. See Paddlewood.
Wheel urchin
any sea urchin of the genus Rotula having a round, flat shell.
Wheel window
a circular window having radiating mullions arranged like the spokes of a wheel. Cf. Rose window, under Rose.

Wheel

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Wheeled; p. pr. & vb. n. Wheeling

  1. To convey on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle; as, to wheel a load of hay or wood.
  2. To put into a rotatory motion; to cause to turn or revolve; to cause to gyrate; to make or perform in a circle.
    Now heaven, in all her glory, shone, and rolled Her motions, as the great first mover's hand First wheeled their course.

Wheel

v. i.
  1. To turn on an axis, or as on an axis; to revolve; to more about; to rotate; to gyrate.
    The moon carried about the earth always shows the same face to us, not once wheeling upon her own center.
  2. To change direction, as if revolving upon an axis or pivot; to turn; as, the troops wheeled to the right.
    Being able to advance no further, they are in a fair way to wheel about to the other extreme.
  3. To go round in a circuit; to fetch a compass.
    Then wheeling down the steep of heaven he flies.
  4. To roll forward.
    Thunder mixed with hail, Hail mixed with fire, must rend the Egyptian sky, And wheel on the earth, devouring where it rolls.