wheel

Less common meanings

7. 7
   about-faceverbintransitive

   To turn around quickly, or to make a horse, vehicle, or body of people turn quickly.

   Startled, the horses wheel and gallop toward the far fence.

   She wheeled sharply to confront the man following her down the alley.

   UsageOften wheel around: she wheeled around to face him.

   Similarspin, turn, whirl, pivot, swing

   Note

   Turning with no object: whatever wheels turns itself. In Stephen Crane's The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky (1898) a dog is "wheeling in terror" into a new direction, and in T. E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom troops are "wheeling and turning" on a dusty plain. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Stephen Crane wrote The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky, first published in 1898. en.wikipedia.org
   • The story describes a dog as 'wheeling in terror' and moving in a new direction. en.wikisource.org
   • T. E. Lawrence wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom. en.wikipedia.org
   • Seven Pillars of Wisdom describes troops 'wheeling and turning' on a dusty plain. en.wikisource.org
8. 8
   cheese roundnouncountable

   A large circular block of cheese, formed or cut into a round shape.

   The cheesemonger heaved a heavy wheel of Parmesan onto the counter.

   Each wheel is aged for months in a cool cellar before it goes on sale.

   UsageSay a wheel of cheese: a wheel of Parmesan.

   Similarround

9. 9
   circle (flying)verbintransitive

   To fly or move around in large circles, especially high in the air.

   Eagles wheel high above the cliffs before plunging toward the sea.

   A great flock of starlings wheeled across the darkening sky.

   UsageOften with above, over or down: gulls wheeled over the harbor.

   Similarcircle, spiral, swirl

   Note

   This is the verb of circling flight, and its natural subjects are birds. Yeats's swans at Coole “scatter wheeling in great broken rings,” and Robert Byron's vultures (1933) “came wheeling down like baroque aeroplanes.” It suggests wide, unhurried circles rather than a quick turn. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Yeats describes the swans at Coole as scattering and wheeling in great broken rings. en.wikisource.org
   • Robert Byron describes vultures as coming wheeling down like baroque aeroplanes. fadedpage.com
   • The Byron quotation comes from a work first published in 1933, First Russia, Then Tibet. fadedpage.com
10. 10
    set spinningverbtransitive

    To set something into rotating motion; to cause it to turn or revolve.

    Caught in the whirlpool, the raft was wheeled around and around until the boys finally paddled free.

    Before each pitch, the softball player wheeled her arm in a full circle and then let the ball fly.

    UsageIn everyday English, spin or turn is more usual: the wind spun the leaves.

    Similarturn, spin, rotate

    Note

    The object can be the motion itself, not just the thing that moves. In Thomas Gray's Elegy (1751) “the beetle wheels his droning flight,” and Longfellow's bittern “wheeled his spiral way.” Milton has the First Mover's hand wheel the course of the heavens. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Thomas Gray's Elegy contains the words “the beetle wheels his droning flight.” gutenberg.org
    • Gray's Elegy was first published in 1751. en.wikisource.org
    • Longfellow describes a bittern that “wheeled his spiral way.” gutenberg.org
    • Milton describes the First Mover's hand as wheeling the course of the heavens. gutenberg.org
11. 11
    yarn makingnouncountable

    A device with a large rotating wheel used to spin fiber into thread or yarn.

    She treadled the wheel steadily, drawing raw fleece into fine yarn.

    Spinners across the village worked their wheels late into the night.

    UsageOften called a spinning wheel.

12. 12
    big shotnounslangcountable

    A person who holds a great deal of power or influence; a big shot.

    He loves to drop the names of the big wheels he met at the conference, though none of them remember him.

    Everyone at the club treats him like a big wheel because his family owns half the town.

    UsageUsually a big wheel: a big wheel in city politics.

    Similarbigwig, heavyweight, mogul, magnate

    Oppositenobody

13. 13
    nouncountable

    A turning or circular movement, especially a sweeping turn about a center or pivot.

    The hawk completed a lazy wheel high above the valley.

    The starlings made one last wide wheel over the field before dropping into the hedges for the night.

    Similarturn, circle, revolution, rotation

    Note

    The noun of motion that sits behind circling flight: a single turn traced through the air or across the ground. Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) has a flight thrown “in many an aery wheel.” The word describes the path something takes rather than any object, so it suits a hawk's loop or a marching column's turn. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • John Milton wrote Paradise Lost. gutenberg.org
    • Paradise Lost was first published in 1667. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
    • Paradise Lost describes flight using the words “in many an aery wheel.” en.wikisource.org
14. 14
    bicyclenounarchaic

    A pedal-driven bicycle or tricycle.

    Note

    A cycling word from the days when the bicycle was the fastest thing on a road. A 1927 Popular Science piece recalls a time when only a railroad train could outpace one. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Wheel historically meant a bicycle or tricycle. gutenberg.org
    • A Popular Science article about Glenn Curtiss appeared in 1927. en.wikipedia.org
15. 15
    torture devicenouncountable

    An old instrument of torture and execution on which a victim was bound and beaten; the breaking wheel.

    He was sentenced to die on the wheel, a fate reserved for the worst offenders.

    The condemned man's limbs were broken upon the wheel before a silent crowd.

    UsageUsually on the wheel: broken on the wheel.

16. 16
    marching turnnouncountable

    A marching maneuver in which a line of marchers turns in a curve to the right or left while keeping their order unchanged.

    The drill sergeant called for a wheel, and the formation pivoted neatly to the left.

    A well-executed wheel keeps every marcher in the same relative position.

    UsageThe commands are right wheel and left wheel.

17. 17
    fireworknouncountable

    A firework that spins rapidly in a circle as it burns, throwing off sparks.

    A wheel was pinned to the fence, spinning in a blur of sparks once lit.

    The display ended with a great wheel whirling on the church gate.

    UsageOften called a Catherine wheel.

    Similarpinwheel

18. 18
    poker straightnounslangcountable

    In poker, the lowest straight, ace to five, which is also the best low hand in many lowball games.

    She caught the wheel on the river to complete her straight.

    Holding two low cards, he was drawing to a wheel.

    Note

    Poker slang for the five-high straight, in which the ace stops being the top card and plays as a one. It is the lowest straight there is. Yet the same five cards are prized in low games, which is why the name also means the best low hand. A player drawing to a wheel is hoping to fill exactly ace through five. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Wheel is poker slang for the five-high straight, ace through five. 888poker.com
    • The ace plays low in this straight. en.wikipedia.org
    • Ace through five is the lowest straight. pokerstars.fr
    • The same cards form the best low hand in games using ace-to-five low rankings. en.wikipedia.org
    • Drawing to a wheel means seeking to complete ace through five in this sense of wheel. en.wikipedia.org
19. 19
    ride a bikeverbdatedintransitive

    To ride and travel on a bicycle or tricycle.

    Similarcycle, bike, pedal, ride

    Note

    Dated cycling talk, used without an object: friends wheel down to the river, a clerk wheels into the village. It is the verb that goes with the old word for a bicycle. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Wheel has a historical cycling use. wright-brothers.org
    • The cycling verb can be used without an object. gutenberg.org
    • Wheel was also a noun meaning a bicycle. gutenberg.org
20. 20
    computer adminnoundatedcountable

    On certain computer systems, a user with superuser privileges and administrative power.

    On the old university system, only a handful of staff were wheels who could change anyone's password.

    Without wheel access, you cannot edit the protected files.

    Similarsuperuser, root, admin

    Note

    Computing slang that carries the “big wheel” idea onto a machine: the user who is allowed to do what others cannot. As a word in conversation it is now dated, though it still turns up in phrases like wheel access. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The computing term derives from the slang expression “big wheel” for a powerful person. en.wikipedia.org
    • A wheel has privileges allowing operations unavailable to ordinary users. en.wikipedia.org
21. 21
    nounarchaic

    A dollar; a single unit of US currency.
22. 22
    nounarchaicUK

    A crown coin; a British five-shilling piece.

    Note

    Old British slang for the crown coin. It shares its round image with cartwheel, while tosheroon, another slang name for the coin, comes from a different source. There, a couple of wheels means money for a night's lodging, not parts of a cart. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Wheel was British slang for a crown, worth five shillings. gutenberg.org
    • Wheel and cartwheel share the image of a wheel applied to a large coin. gutenberg.org
    • In the coin sense, a couple of wheels denotes money. gutenberg.org
23. 23
    nounobsolete

    Any rolling or revolving body; anything of circular form, such as a disk or orb.

    Flashing thick flames , wheel within wheel undrawn

    1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost
24. 24
    noun

    In mathematics, a type of algebraic structure in which division is always defined, so that even division by zero yields a meaningful value.
25. 25
    noun

    In prosody, the return to a distinctive rhythm at the close of each stanza.
26. 26
    verb

    In grime music, to restart a track from the beginning, typically in response to crowd enthusiasm; to play a wheel-up.