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wheel

Pronunciation: /ˈwiːl/

The English word “wheel” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A circular device capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation or performing labour in machines.
  2. A steering wheel and its implied control of a vehicle.
  3. The instrument attached to the rudder by which a vessel is steered.
  4. A spinning wheel.
  5. A potter's wheel.
  6. The breaking wheel, an old instrument of torture.
  7. A person with a great deal of power or influence; a big wheel.
  8. A superuser on certain systems.
  9. The lowest straight in poker: ace-2-3-4-5.
  10. The best low hand in Lowball or High-low split poker: either ace-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-7, depending on the variant.
  11. A wheelrim.
  12. A round portion of cheese.
  13. A Catherine wheel firework.
  14. A rolling or revolving body; anything of a circular form; a disk; an orb.
  15. A turn or revolution; rotation; compass.
  16. A recurring or cyclical course of events.
  17. The control of, or ability to steer, the course of events.
  18. A dollar.
  19. A crown coin.
  20. A bicycle or tricycle.

Etymology

From Middle English whel, from Old English hwēol, from Proto-West Germanic *hwehwl, from Proto-Germanic *hwehwlą, *hweulō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷekʷlóm, *kʷékʷlos, *kʷékʷléh₂, reduplication of *kʷel- (“to turn”) and a suffix (literally "(the thing that) turns and turns"). See also West Frisian tsjil, Dutch wiel, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish hjul; also Tocharian B…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.