Word: wheel Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- Proto-Indo-European *kʷekʷléh₂ Proto-Germanic *hweulō Old English hwēol Middle English whel English wheel 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 kokale (“cart, wagon”), Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos, “cycle, wheel”), Avestan 𐬗𐬀𐬑𐬭𐬀 (caxra), Sanskrit चक्र (cakrá); and Latin colō (“to till, cultivate”), Tocharian A and Tocharian B käl- (“to bear; bring”), Ancient Greek πέλω (pélō, “to come into existence, become”), Old Church Slavonic коло (kolo, “wheel”), Albanian sjell (“to bring, carry, turn around”), Avestan 𐬗𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (caraⁱti, “it circulates”), Sanskrit चरति (cárati, “it moves, wanders”). Doublet of chakra, chakram, charkha, chukker, cycle, cyclus, and kike. Pronunciation: /ˈwiːl/, [ˈwɪi̯l], /ˈʍiːl/, [ˈʍɪi̯l] ~ /ˈw̥iːl/, [ˈw̥ɪi̯l] 1. A circular device capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation or performing labour in machines. Example: The departure was not unduly prolonged.[…]Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity. 2. A circular device capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation or performing labour in machines. Labels: informal, with-definite-article Example: He fell asleep at the wheel. 3. A circular device capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation or performing labour in machines. Example: I hear the noise about thy keel; ⁠I hear the bell struck in the night: ⁠I see the cabin-window bright; I see the sailor at the wheel. 4. A circular device capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation or performing labour in machines. 5. A circular device capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation or performing labour in machines. Example: Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. Example: Turn, turn, my wheel! This earthen jar / A touch can make, a touch can mar. 6. The breaking wheel, an old instrument of torture. 7. A person with a great deal of power or influence; a big wheel. Labels: slang 8. A person with a great deal of power or influence; a big wheel. Labels: dated, slang 9. The lowest straight in poker: ace-2-3-4-5. Labels: slang 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. Labels: slang 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. Labels: obsolete Example: Flashing thick flames , wheel within wheel undrawn 15. A turn or revolution; rotation; compass. Example: [He] throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel. 16. A recurring or cyclical course of events. Labels: figuratively Example: the wheel of life Example: According to the common vicissitude and wheel of things, the proud and the insolent, after long trampling upon others, come at length to be trampled upon themselves. 17. The control of, or ability to steer, the course of events. Labels: figuratively Example: This is the story of how AI changed our world in 2025, in new and exciting and sometimes frightening ways. It is the story of how Huang and other tech titans grabbed the wheel of history, developing technology and making decisions that are reshaping the information landscape, the climate, and our livelihoods. 18. A dollar. Labels: archaic, slang 19. A crown coin. Labels: UK, archaic, slang 20. A bicycle or tricycle. Labels: archaic, informal Example: There was no vehicle of any sort, on land or water, in those days, that could go as fast as a bicycle, except a railroad train. […] Hammondsport and Glenn Curtiss had never even heard of the not yet quite born automobile. But Glenn Curtiss could push his "wheel," with those long legs of his, uphill, downhill or on the level, faster than any other boy in Hammondsport. 21. A maneuver in marching in which the marchers turn in a curving fashion to right or left so that the order of marchers does not change. 22. A type of algebra where division is always defined, and in particular division by zero is meaningful. Example: The real numbers can be extended to a wheel, as can any commutative ring. 23. The return to a peculiar rhythm at the end of each stanza.