Wheel

8 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Wheel \Wheel\ (hw[=e]l), n. [OE. wheel, hweol, AS. hwe['o]l,
     hweogul, hweowol; akin to D. wiel, Icel. hv[=e]l, Gr.
     ky`klos, Skr. cakra; cf. Icel. hj[=o]l, Dan. hiul, Sw. hjul.
     [root]218. Cf. {Cycle}, {Cyclopedia}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     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.
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              The gasping charioteer beneath the wheel
              Of his own car.                       --Dryden.
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     2. Any instrument having the form of, or chiefly consisting
        of, a wheel. Specifically: 
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        (a) A spinning wheel. See under {Spinning}.
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        (b) An instrument of torture formerly used.
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                  His examination is like that which is made by
                  the rack and wheel.               --Addison.
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     Note: This mode of torture is said to have been first
           employed in Germany, in the fourteenth century. The
           criminal was laid on a cart wheel with his legs and
           arms extended, and his limbs in that posture were
           fractured with an iron bar. In France, where its use
           was restricted to the most atrocious crimes, the
           criminal was first laid on a frame of wood in the form
           of a St. Andrew's cross, with grooves cut transversely
           in it above and below the knees and elbows, and the
           executioner struck eight blows with an iron bar, so as
           to break the limbs in those places, sometimes finishing
           by two or three blows on the chest or stomach, which
           usually put an end to the life of the criminal, and
           were hence called coups-de-grace -- blows of mercy. The
           criminal was then unbound, and laid on a small wheel,
           with his face upward, and his arms and legs doubled
           under him, there to expire, if he had survived the
           previous treatment. --Brande.
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        (c) (Naut.) 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.
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        (d) (Pottery) A potter's wheel. See under {Potter}.
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                  Then I went down to the potter's house, and,
                  behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. --Jer.
                                                    xviii. 3.
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                  Turn, turn, my wheel! This earthen jar
                  A touch can make, a touch can mar. --Longfellow.
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        (e) (Pyrotechny) A firework which, while burning, is
            caused to revolve on an axis by the reaction of the
            escaping gases.
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        (f) (Poetry) The burden or refrain of a song.
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     Note: "This meaning has a low degree of authority, but is
           supposed from the context in the few cases where the
           word is found." --Nares.
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                 You must sing a-down a-down,
                 An you call him a-down-a.
                 O, how the wheel becomes it!       --Shak.
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     3. A bicycle or a tricycle; a velocipede.
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     4. A rolling or revolving body; anything of a circular form;
        a disk; an orb. --Milton.
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     5. A turn revolution; rotation; compass.
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              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.                      --South.
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              [He] throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel.
                                                    --Milton.
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     {A wheel within a wheel}, or {Wheels within wheels}, a
        complication of circumstances, motives, etc.
  
     {Balance wheel}. See in the Vocab.
  
     {Bevel wheel}, {Brake wheel}, {Cam wheel}, {Fifth wheel},
     {Overshot wheel}, {Spinning wheel}, etc. See under {Bevel},
        {Brake}, etc.
  
     {Core wheel}. (Mach.)
        (a) A mortise gear.
        (b) A wheel having a rim perforated to receive wooden
            cogs; the skeleton of a mortise gear.
  
     {Measuring wheel}, an odometer, or perambulator.
  
     {Wheel and axle} (Mech.), 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}, or {Wheel animalcule} (Zool.), any one of
        numerous species of rotifers having a ciliated disk at the
        anterior end.
  
     {Wheel barometer}. (Physics) See under {Barometer}.
  
     {Wheel boat}, a boat with wheels, to be used either on water
        or upon inclined planes or railways.
  
     {Wheel bug} (Zool.), 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}, or {Wheel ropes} (Naut.), 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) A letter lock. See under {Letter}.
        (b) A kind of gunlock in which sparks were struck from a
            flint, or piece of iron pyrites, by a revolving wheel.
        (c) A kind of brake a carriage.
  
     {Wheel ore} (Min.), a variety of bournonite so named from the
        shape of its twin crystals. See {Bournonite}.
  
     {Wheel pit} (Steam Engine), a pit in the ground, in which the
        lower part of the fly wheel runs.
  
     {Wheel plow}, or {Wheel plough}, 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} (Naut.), a tiller rope. See under {Tiller}.
  
     {Wheel stitch} (Needlework), a stitch resembling a spider's
        web, worked into the material, and not over an open space.
        --Caulfeild & S. (Dict. of Needlework).
  
     {Wheel tree} (Bot.), 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} (Zool.), any sea urchin of the genus {Rotula}
        having a round, flat shell.
  
     {Wheel window} (Arch.), a circular window having radiating
        mullions arranged like the spokes of a wheel. Cf. {Rose
        window}, under {Rose}.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Wheel \Wheel\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Wheeled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Wheeling}.]
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     1. To convey on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle; as, to wheel
        a load of hay or wood.
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     2. To put into a rotatory motion; to cause to turn or
        revolve; to cause to gyrate; to make or perform in a
        circle. "The beetle wheels her droning flight." --Gray.
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              Now heaven, in all her glory, shone, and rolled
              Her motions, as the great first mover's hand
              First wheeled their course.           --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Wheel \Wheel\, v. i.
     [1913 Webster]
     1. To turn on an axis, or as on an axis; to revolve; to more
        about; to rotate; to gyrate.
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              The moon carried about the earth always shows the
              same
              face to us, not once wheeling upon her own center.
                                                    --Bentley.
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     2. To change direction, as if revolving upon an axis or
        pivot; to turn; as, the troops wheeled to the right.
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              Being able to advance no further, they are in a fair
              way to
              wheel about to the other extreme.     --South.
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     3. To go round in a circuit; to fetch a compass.
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              Then wheeling down the steep of heaven he flies.
                                                    --Pope.
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     4. To roll forward.
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              Thunder mixed with hail,
              Hail mixed with fire, must rend the Egyptian sky,
              And wheel on the earth, devouring where it rolls.
                                                    --Milton.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  wheel
       n 1: a simple machine consisting of a circular frame with spokes
            (or a solid disc) that can rotate on a shaft or axle (as
            in vehicles or other machines)
       2: a handwheel that is used for steering [syn: {steering wheel}]
       3: a circular helm to control the rudder of a vessel
       4: game equipment consisting of a rotating wheel with slots
          that is used for gambling; players bet on which slot the
          roulette ball will stop in [syn: {roulette wheel}]
       5: an instrument of torture that stretches or disjoints or
          mutilates victims [syn: {rack}]
       6: a wheeled vehicle that has two wheels and is moved by foot
          pedals [syn: {bicycle}, {bike}, {cycle}]
       v 1: change directions as if revolving on a pivot; "They wheeled
            their horses around and left" [syn: {wheel around}]
       2: wheel somebody or something [syn: {wheel around}]
       3: move along on or as if on wheels or a wheeled vehicle; "The
          President's convoy rolled past the crowds" [syn: {roll}]
       4: ride a bicycle [syn: {bicycle}, {cycle}, {bike}, {pedal}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  270 Moby Thesaurus words for "wheel":
     BMOC, Charybdis, Ferris wheel, O, Procrustean bed, airscrew,
     alternate, annular muscle, annulus, areola, arsis, association,
     aureole, auto, avert, balance wheel, be here again, beat,
     bed of Procrustes, bevel gear, bicycle, big cheese, big noise,
     big shot, big wheel, big-time operator, big-timer, bike, boot,
     bout, buffing wheel, bus, carousel, cartwheel, caster,
     catch a train, centrifugate, centrifuge, chaplet, charioteer,
     chauffeur, chopper, circle, circuit, circuiteer, circular saw,
     circulate, circulation, circumambulate, circumference,
     circummigrate, circumnavigate, circumrotate, circumvent,
     circumvolute, circumvolution, circus, close the circle,
     closed circle, cog, cogwheel, come about, come again, come and go,
     come around, come full circle, come round, come round again,
     come up again, compass, conference, contrate wheel, corona,
     coronet, course, crank, crown, crown wheel, cycle, cycloidal gear,
     deflect, describe a circle, diadem, diastole, discus, disk, divert,
     dizzy round, do a flip-flop, do an about-face, downbeat, drive,
     drive wheel, driver, eddy, encircle, encompass, entrain,
     escape wheel, eternal return, fairy ring, fan, fetch about, flank,
     flywheel, garland, gear, gearwheel, girdle, girdle the globe,
     glory, go about, go around, go by rail, go round, go the round,
     gurge, gyrate, gyration, gyre, gyrowheel, halo,
     have second thoughts, heel, helm, high-muck-a-muck, his nibs,
     idler wheel, impeller, intermit, iron, iron heel, joyride,
     kick wheel, lap, lasso, logical circle, loop, looplet, maelstrom,
     magic circle, make a circuit, make a train, merry-go-round,
     mill wheel, minibike, motocycle, motor, motorbike, motorcycle,
     noose, orbit, oscillate, paddle wheel, pedal, pedal wheel, pedicab,
     pig, pilot, pinion, pinwheel, pirouette, piston, pivot,
     pivot about, power wheel, prayer wheel, prop, propellant,
     propeller, propulsor, pulley, pulsate, pulse, put about, rack,
     radius, rat race, reappear, recur, reel, reins,
     reins of government, reoccur, repeat, return, revolution, revolve,
     ride, ring, road-bike, roll around, roller, rolling stone,
     rondelle, rotate, rotation, rotator, rotor, roulette wheel, round,
     roundabout, roundel, rudder, rundle, saucer, scarpines, screw,
     screw propeller, series, sheer, skirt, spell, sphincter, spin,
     spiral, stagger, steering wheel, surge, surround, swing,
     swing round, swirl, swivel, systole, take a joyride, taxi,
     tergiversate, thesis, thumbscrew, tiller, tool, top, totter,
     trail bike, tricycle, trike, truck, truckle, turbine, turn,
     turn a pirouette, turn about, turn around, turn round, turn tail,
     twin screws, twirl, twist, undulate, upbeat, veer, veer around,
     vicious circle, volte-face, vortex, wamble, water wheel,
     wheel about, wheel around, wheel of fortune, whip, whirl,
     whirlabout, whirler, whirligig, whirlpool, whirlwind, wind,
     wreath
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  wheel n. [from slang `big wheel' for a powerful person] A person who
     has an active {wheel bit}. "We need to find a wheel to unwedge the hung
     tape drives." (See {wedged}, sense 1.) The traditional name of security
     group zero in {BSD} (to which the major system-internal users like
     {root} belong) is `wheel'. Some vendors have expanded on this usage,
     modifying Unix so that only members of group `wheel' can {go root}.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  wheel
       
          [slang "big wheel" for a powerful person] A person who has an
          active {wheel bit}.  "We need to find a wheel to unwedge the
          hung tape drives."  (See {wedged}).
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
       

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Wheel
     (Heb. galgal; rendered "wheel" in Ps. 83:13, and "a rolling
     thing" in Isa. 17:13; R.V. in both, "whirling dust"). This word
     has been supposed to mean the wild artichoke, which assumes the
     form of a globe, and in autumn breaks away from its roots, and
     is rolled about by the wind in some places in great numbers.