- wheel
- [[t](h)wi͟ːl[/t]]
♦♦♦wheels, wheeling, wheeled1) N-COUNT 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.
●PHRASE: n PHR, v-link PHR 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) N-COUNT A wheel is a circular object which forms a part of a machine, usually a moving part.The wheels of whetstone grinders are usually fairly large.
3) N-COUNT: usu sing, the N 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.
Syn:4) N-PLURAL 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.[V n prep/adv] He wheeled his bike into the alley at the side of the house...
[V n prep/adv] They wheeled her out on the stretcher.
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.
7) VERB If you wheel around, you turn around suddenly where you are standing, often because you are surprised, shocked, or angry.[V adv] He wheeled around to face her...
She wheeled sharply and headed for the check-out counter.
8) N-SING: the N of n 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) N-PLURAL: the N of n 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.
10) 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.
11) → See also , meals on wheels, , spare wheel, , steering wheel, water wheel
English dictionary. 2008.
