wheel

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wheel

  • /ˈwiːl/
  • [ˈwɪi̯l]
  • /ˈʍiːl/
  • [ˈʍɪi̯l] ~ /ˈw̥iːl/
  • [ˈw̥ɪi̯l]

Sounds like wheal, weal, weel (wine–whine merger), we'll (one pronunciation along with the wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -iːl

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁-redup.

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *kʷekʷléh₂

Proto-Germanic *hweulō

Old English hwēol

Middle English whel

English wheel

From Middle English whel, from Old English hwēol, from Proto-West Germanic *hwehwl, from Proto-Germanic *hwehwlą, *hweulō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷekʷlóm, *kʷékʷlos, *kʷékʷléh₂, reduplication of *kʷel- (“to turn”) and a suffix (literally "(the thing that) turns and turns"). See also West Frisian tsjil, Dutch wiel, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish hjul; also Tocharian B kokale (“cart, wagon”), Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos, “cycle, wheel”), Avestan 𐬗𐬀𐬑𐬭𐬀 (caxra), Sanskrit चक्र (cakrá); and Latin colō (“to till, cultivate”), Tocharian A and Tocharian B käl- (“to bear; bring”), Ancient Greek πέλω (pélō, “to come into existence, become”), Old Church Slavonic коло (kolo, “wheel”), Albanian sjell (“to bring, carry, turn around”), Avestan 𐬗𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (caraⁱti, “it circulates”), Sanskrit चरति (cárati, “it moves, wanders”). Doublet of chakra, chakram, charkha, chukker, cycle, cyclus, and kike.

noun wheels

  1. A circular device capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation or performing labour in machines. The departure was not unduly prolonged.[…]Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette
  2. informal, with definite article A steering wheel and its implied control of a vehicle. He fell asleep at the wheel.
  3. The instrument attached to the rudder by which a vessel is steered. I hear the noise about thy keel; ⁠I hear the bell struck in the night: ⁠I see the cabin-window bright; I see the sailor at the wheel.
  4. A spinning wheel.
  5. A potter's wheel. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
  6. The breaking wheel, an old instrument of torture.
  7. slang A person with a great deal of power or influence; a big wheel.
  8. dated, slang A superuser on certain systems.
  9. slang The lowest straight in poker: ace-2-3-4-5.
  10. slang The best low hand in Lowball or High-low split poker: either ace-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-7, depending on the variant.
  11. A wheelrim.
  12. A round portion of cheese.
  13. A Catherine wheel firework.
  14. obsolete A rolling or revolving body; anything of a circular form; a disk; an orb. Flashing thick flames , wheel within wheel undrawn
  15. A turn or revolution; rotation; compass. [He] throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel.
  16. figuratively A recurring or cyclical course of events. the wheel of life
  17. figuratively The control of, or ability to steer, the course of events. This is the story of how AI changed our world in 2025, in new and exciting and sometimes frightening ways. It is the story of how Huang and other tech titans grabbed the wheel of history, developing technology and making decisions that are reshaping the information landscape, the climate, and our li
  18. archaic, slang A dollar.
  19. UK, archaic, slang A crown coin.
  20. archaic, informal A bicycle or tricycle. There was no vehicle of any sort, on land or water, in those days, that could go as fast as a bicycle, except a railroad train. […] Hammondsport and Glenn Curtiss had never even heard of the not yet quite born automobile. But Glenn Curtiss could push his "wheel," with those long legs of his, uphill,
  21. A maneuver in marching in which the marchers turn in a curving fashion to right or left so that the order of marchers does not change.
  22. A type of algebra where division is always defined, and in particular division by zero is meaningful. The real numbers can be extended to a wheel, as can any commutative ring.
  23. The return to a peculiar rhythm at the end of each stanza.

Similar: rim

verb wheels · wheeling · wheeled

  1. transitive To roll along on wheels. Wheel that trolley over here, would you?
  2. transitive To transport something or someone using any wheeled mechanism, such as a wheelchair. The patient was wheeled out of the ER.
  3. dated, intransitive To ride a bicycle or tricycle.
  4. intransitive To make a circular movement. My arms wheeled frantically in the air as I tried to signal for help.
  5. intransitive To move smoothly and easily, as if on wheels. I wheeled through the gathering, making all my appointed stops.
  6. intransitive To change direction quickly, turn, pivot, whirl, wheel around. Your daughter, if you have not given her leave, I say again, hath made a gross revolt; Tying her duty, beauty, wit and fortunes In an extravagant and wheeling stranger Of here and every where.
  7. transitive To cause to change direction quickly, turn. […] he did as Menelaus had said, and set off running as soon as he had given his armour to a comrade, Laodocus, who was wheeling his horses round, close beside him.
  8. intransitive To travel around in large circles, particularly in the air. The vulture wheeled above us.
  9. transitive To put into a rotatory motion; to cause to turn or revolve; to make or perform in a circle. Now Heav’n in all her Glorie shon, and rowld Her motions, as the great first-Movers hand First wheeld thir course;
  10. intransitive To reload a track; to play a wheel-up. The crowd wanted to track to be played again, so they shouted out "Wheel it".
  11. transitive To execute (a person) using the breaking wheel.

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