Definition of Whel
Wheel (?), n. [OE. wheel,
hweol, AS. hweól, hweogul, hweowol; akin
to D. wiel, Icel. hvēl, Gr. ky`klos, Skr.
cakra; cf. Icel. hjōl, Dan. hiul, Sw.
hjul. √218. Cf. Cycle, Cyclopedia.]
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. Dryden.
2. Any instrument having the form of, or chiefly
consisting of, a wheel. Specifically: --
(a) A spinning wheel. See under
Spinning.
(b) An instrument of torture formerly
used.
His examination is like that which is made by the rack and
wheel. Addison.
&fist; 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.
(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.
(d) (Pottery) A potter's wheel. See under
Potter.
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. Longfellow.
(e) (Pyrotechny) A firework which, while
burning, is caused to revolve on an axis by the reaction of the escaping
gases.
(f) (Poetry) The burden or refrain of a
song.
&fist; "This meaning has a low degree of authority, but is supposed from
the context in the few cases where the word is found." Nares.
You must sing a-down a-down,
An you call him a-down-a.
O, how the wheel becomes it! Shak.
3. A bicycle or a tricycle; a velocipede.
4. A rolling or revolving body; anything of a
circular form; a disk; an orb. Milton.
5. 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. South.
[He] throws his steep flight in many an aëry
wheel. Milton.
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 (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), 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
(Zoöl.), 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.
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. "The
beetle wheels her droning flight." Gray.
Now heaven, in all her glory, shone, and rolled
Her motions, as the great first mover's hand
First wheeled their course. Milton.
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.
Bentley.
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. South.
3. To go round in a circuit; to fetch a
compass.
Then wheeling down the steep of heaven he
flies. Pope.
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.
Milton.
Wheel (?), n. [OE. wheel,
hweol, AS. hweól, hweogul, hweowol; akin
to D. wiel, Icel. hvēl, Gr. ky`klos, Skr.
cakra; cf. Icel. hjōl, Dan. hiul, Sw.
hjul. √218. Cf. Cycle, Cyclopedia.]
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. Dryden.
2. Any instrument having the form of, or chiefly
consisting of, a wheel. Specifically: --
(a) A spinning wheel. See under
Spinning.
(b) An instrument of torture formerly
used.
His examination is like that which is made by the rack and
wheel. Addison.
&fist; 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.
(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.
(d) (Pottery) A potter's wheel. See under
Potter.
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. Longfellow.
(e) (Pyrotechny) A firework which, while
burning, is caused to revolve on an axis by the reaction of the escaping
gases.
(f) (Poetry) The burden or refrain of a
song.
&fist; "This meaning has a low degree of authority, but is supposed from
the context in the few cases where the word is found." Nares.
You must sing a-down a-down,
An you call him a-down-a.
O, how the wheel becomes it! Shak.
3. A bicycle or a tricycle; a velocipede.
4. A rolling or revolving body; anything of a
circular form; a disk; an orb. Milton.
5. 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. South.
[He] throws his steep flight in many an aëry
wheel. Milton.
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 (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), 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
(Zoöl.), 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.
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. "The
beetle wheels her droning flight." Gray.
Now heaven, in all her glory, shone, and rolled
Her motions, as the great first mover's hand
First wheeled their course. Milton.
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.
Bentley.
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. South.
3. To go round in a circuit; to fetch a
compass.
Then wheeling down the steep of heaven he
flies. Pope.
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.
Milton.
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
- A circular device capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation or performing labour in machines.
- (slang) A person with a great deal of power or influence.
- to roll along like on wheels
- The Nuttall Encyclopedia
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