WHEEL


Meaning of WHEEL in English

n. & v.

--n.

1. a circular frame or disc arranged to revolve on an axle and used to facilitate the motion of a vehicle or for various mechanical purposes.

2 a wheel-like thing (Catherine wheel; potter's wheel; steering wheel).

3 motion as of a wheel, esp. the movement of a line of people with one end as a pivot.

4 a machine etc. of which a wheel is an essential part.

5 (in pl.) sl. a car.

6 US sl. big wheel 2.

7 a set of short lines concluding a stanza.

--v.

1. intr. & tr. a turn on an axis or pivot. b swing round in line with one end as a pivot.

2 a intr. (often foll. by about, round) change direction or face another way. b tr. cause to do this.

3 tr. push or pull (a wheeled thing esp. a barrow, bicycle, or pram, or its load or occupant).

4 intr. go in circles or curves (seagulls wheeling overhead).

Phrases and idioms:

at the wheel

1. driving a vehicle.

2 directing a ship.

3 in control of affairs. on wheels (or oiled wheels) smoothly. wheel and deal engage in political or commercial scheming. wheel-back adj. (of a chair) with a back shaped like or containing the design of a wheel. wheel-house a steersman's shelter.

wheel-lock

1. an old kind of gunlock having a steel wheel to rub against flint etc.

2 a gun with this. wheel of Fortune luck. wheel-spin rotation of a vehicle's wheels without traction.

wheels within wheels

1. intricate machinery.

2 colloq. indirect or secret agencies.

Derivatives:

wheeled adj. (also in comb.). wheelless adj.

Etymology: OE hweol, hweogol f. Gmc

Oxford English vocab.      Оксфордский английский словарь.