wheelie
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈ(h)wiːli/
ipa: /ˈ(h)wili/
rhymes: -iːli
Forms: form: wheelies
form: wheely
Etymology: From wheel + -ie.
Senses: examples: text: Jim fell off his bike when he was trying to do a wheelie.
text: With them [bicycles], children can accomplish such unique and delightfully dangerous stunts as “wheelies”—that is, riding at a fast speed with the machine's front wheel raised completely above the ground.
ref: 1959, American Jurisprudence Proof of Facts, Annotated: […], volume 30, San Francisco, Calif.: Bancroft-Whitney; Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 647:
text: Bikes are pointing their noses in the air nowadays with the help of a new gadget called the Wheelie-Bar. By attaching the device to the rear of your cycle, you can tilt back on the hind wheel; wooden skate rollers at the end of the bar let you ride high, the way stock-car dragsters do.
ref: 1967 January, “PS Picture News: Drag Bike Rides High on Wheelie-Bars”, in Ernest V. Heyn, editor, The Popular Science Monthly, volume 190, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Popular Science Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 92:
text: In keeping with his overall emphasis on skill, [Doug] Domokos says his most difficult trick is one he performs on solid ground. During the show, you'll see him pull up the front wheel of his ATV [all-terrain vehicle], then step over the handlebars and continue the wheelie while seated on the headlight.
ref: 1985 January, “Staying Aloft: Domokos is Up for the Great American Shows Season”, in Greg Harrison, editor, American Motorcyclist: The Monthly Journal of the American Motorcyclist Association, volume 39, number 1, Westerville, Oh.: American Motorcyclist Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18:
text: I learned how to let the clutch out slo-ow-ly so my tractor wouldn't pop a wheely and go hauling over backward.
ref: 2004, Muffy Mead-Ferro, “The World Isn’t Childproof”, in Confessions of a Slacker Mom, Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Lifelong, →ISBN:
text: The bikers pop wheelies and execute speedy figure eights along the busy street. Still, something more purposeful than joyriding would seem to be on their minds.
ref: 2018 February, Robert Draper, “They are Watching You—and Everything Else on the Planet: Technology and Our Increasing Demand for Security have Put Us All under Surveillance. Is Privacy Becoming just a Memory?”, in National Geographic, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2018:
synonyms: word: mono
word: wheelstand
glosses: An action or stunt where a bicycle, motorcycle, or other vehicle is ridden for a short period while it is standing only on its rear wheel or wheels.
examples: text: It is also a nightmare for the wheelies, or wheelchair users. Not only is it hard enough to find a bloody wheelchair in the airport these days, but to push them to this back-of-beyond gate is a job in itself.
ref: 2005, Imogen Edwards-Jones, “Anonymous” [pseudonym], “6–7 am”, in Air Babylon, London: Bantam Press, →ISBN; republished London: Corgi Books, 2006, →ISBN, page 29:
text: Of the wheelchair users, or wheelies[…], Phil is the other group leader. He has been paraplegic for about ten years. The idea of the group leaders is that they provide support and encouragement from a position of experience.
ref: 2008, Tim Rushby-Smith, chapter 28, in Looking Up: A Humorous and Unflinching Account of Learning to Live Again with Sudden Disability, London: Virgin Books, →ISBN, page 244:
glosses: A wheelchair user.
Coordinate terms: endo
stoppie
Derived terms: heelies
nose wheelie
pop a wheelie