wheel

wheel¹ W3S2 [wi:l] n

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1¦(on a vehicle)¦

2¦(for controlling a vehicle)¦

3¦(in a machine)¦

4 the wheels of something

5 the wheel of fortune/life/time etc

6 (set of) wheels

7 wheels within wheels

8 set the wheels in motion/set the wheels turning

9 a/the big wheel

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[: Old English; Origin: hweogol, hweol]

1.) ¦(ON A VEHICLE)¦

one of the round things under a car, bus, bicycle etc that turns when it moves

front/rear/back wheel

▪ The car slid sideways, its rear wheels spinning .

on wheels

▪ a trolley on wheels

two-wheeled/three-wheeled/four-wheeled

(=having two, three etc wheels)

▪ a three-wheeled car

two-wheeler/three-wheeler

(=a bicycle with two or three wheels)

2.) ¦(FOR CONTROLLING A VEHICLE)¦ [usually singular]

the round piece of equipment that you turn to make a car, ship etc move in a particular direction

at/behind the wheel

(=driving a car)

▪ The driver must have fallen asleep at the wheel .

▪ Shall I take the wheel (=drive instead of someone else) ?

→↑steering wheel

3.) ¦(IN A MACHINE)¦

a flat round part in a machine that turns round when the machine operates

▪ a gear wheel

4.) the wheels of sth

the way in which a complicated organization, system etc works

▪ We hope that the next government will do more to keep the wheels of industry turning (=help it to work smoothly and easily) .

oil/grease the wheels (of sth)

(=help something to work more smoothly and easily)

▪ The money people spend at Christmas oils the wheels of the economy.

5.) the wheel of fortune/life/time etc

the way in which things change in life, or in which the same things seem to happen again after a period of time

▪ We are powerless to stop the wheel of history.

6.) (set of) wheels

spoken a car

▪ Do you like my new wheels?

7.) wheels within wheels

spoken used to say that a situation is complicated and difficult to understand because it involves processes and decisions that you know nothing about

8.) set the wheels in motion/set the wheels turning

to make a particular process start

▪ It only took one phone call to set the wheels in motion.

9.) a/the big wheel informal

an important person

▪ He became a big wheel in the East India Company.

→put your shoulder to the wheel at ↑shoulder¹ (8), put a spoke in sb's wheel at ↑spoke² (2), reinvent the wheel at ↑reinvent

wheel ²

wheel² v

1.) [T always + adverb/preposition]

a) to push something that has wheels somewhere

▪ Kate wheeled her bike into the garage.

b) to move someone or something that is in or on something that has wheels

▪ Two nurses were wheeling him into the operating theatre.

2.)

if birds or planes wheel, they fly around in circles

3.) [I]

to turn around suddenly

wheel around

▪ She wheeled around and started yelling at us.

4.) wheel and deal

to do a lot of complicated and sometimes dishonest deals, especially in politics or business

wheel in/out [wheel sb/sth<=>in/out] [i]phr v

to publicly produce someone or something and use them to help you achieve something

▪ Then the prosecution wheeled in a surprise witness.

▪ The government wheeled out the same old arguments to support its election campaign.