wheel
(hwiːl )
Word forms: wheels , wheeling , wheeled
1. countable noun A2
The wheels of a vehicle are the circular objects which are fixed underneath it and which enable it to move along the ground.
The car wheels spun and slipped on some oil on the road.
on wheels phrase B1
Something on wheels has wheels attached to the bottom, so that it can be moved easily.
...a trolley on wheels.
The stove is on wheels so it can be shuffled around easily.
2. countable noun
A wheel is a circular object which forms a part of a machine, usually a moving part.
...an eighteenth century mill with a water wheel.
3. countable noun [usually singular]
The wheel of a car or other vehicle is the circular object that is used to steer it. The wheel is used in expressions to talk about who is driving a vehicle. For example, if someone is at the wheel of a car, they are driving it.
My co-pilot suddenly grabbed the wheel.
Curtis got behind the wheel and they started back toward the cottage.
Roberto handed Flynn the keys and let him take the wheel.
4. plural noun
People sometimes refer to a car as wheels. [informal]
'Do you own a house?'—'No. But I have wheels.'
5. verb
If you wheel an object that has wheels somewhere, you push it along.
He wheeled his bike into the alley at the side of the house. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
They wheeled her out on the stretcher. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
Synonyms: push, trundle, roll
6. verb
If something such as a group of animals or birds wheels, it moves in a circle. [literary]
A flock of crows wheeled overhead. [VERB]
Synonyms: circle, orbit, go round, twirl
7. verb
If you wheel around, you turn around suddenly where you are standing, often because you are surprised, shocked, or angry.
He wheeled around to face her. [VERB adverb]
She wheeled sharply and headed for the check-out counter. [VERB]
Synonyms: turn, swing, spin, revolve
8. singular noun [the NOUN of noun]
You use wheel in expressions such as the wheel of fortune to refer to the changes that take place in life, especially when you are referring to the fact that the same situations occur more than once.
The wheel of fortune will swing round again; in politics, it always does.
In his view the wheel of history could not be turned back.
9. plural noun
People talk about the wheels of an organization or system to mean the way in which it operates.
He knows the wheels of administration turn slowly. [+ of]
10. to oil the wheels phrase
If someone or something oils the wheels of a process or system, they help things to run smoothly and successfully.
On all such occasions, the king stands in the wings, oiling the wheels of diplomacy.
11. wheels within wheels phrase
If you say that there are wheels within wheels, you mean that there are a number of different influences, reasons, and actions which together make a situation complicated and difficult to understand.
Our culture is more complex than he knows. Wheels within wheels.
12. See also Catherine wheel, meals on wheels, potter's wheel, spare wheel, spinning wheel, steering wheel, water wheel
Vocabulary Builder
CAR: EXTERIOR boot roof wheel window door windscreen wiper bonnet wing bumper windscreen tyre wing mirror number plate headlight indicator Idioms:
break a butterfly on a wheel [British]
to use far more force than is necessary to do something
They have had their ideology combed over, examined, misinterpreted and rewritten. Talk about breaking a butterfly on a wheel.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
put your shoulder to the wheel
to put a great deal of effort into a difficult task
These hard-working and decent people are prepared to put their shoulders to the wheel, to build a better society.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
put a spoke in someone's wheel [mainly British]
to deliberately make it difficult for someone to do what they are planning to do
If she had known he was seeing Tinsley, she undoubtedly would have tried to put a spoke in his wheel.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
a big wheel
someone who has an important and powerful position in an organization or society
They flew Robin to New York, where George's uncle was a big wheel at Memorial Hospital.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
a fifth wheel or a third wheel
someone who is unwanted and unimportant in a situation
For some showbiz couples there's a third wheel in their relationship - the meddling mum.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
reinvent the wheel
to work on an idea or project that you consider new or different, when it is really no better than something that already exists
Learn from Scandinavia. We have created foundations for other countries to follow. Each country's organization does not need to reinvent the wheel.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Translations:
Chinese: 轮子, 推带轮子的物体
Japanese: 車輪, 押す
- spray nozzle
- spray-on tan
- spray paint
- spray-paint
- spray painting
- spray perfume
- spray tan
- spray water
- spread
- spread abroad
- spread a layer of
- spread a lie
- spread a message
- spread a sheet
- spread a virus
- spread betting
- spread butter
- spread democracy
- spreadeagled
- spread-eagled
- spread easily
- spread far
- spread fast
- spread infection
- spread joy