1. [n]  a cycle that has two wheels; moved by foot pedals
2. [n]  a handwheel that is used for steering
3. [n]  an instrument of torture that stretches or disjoints or mutilates victims
4. [n]  game equipment consisting of a rotating wheel with slots that is used for gambling; players bet on which slot the roulette ball will stop in
5. [n]  a simple machine consisting of a circular frame with spokes (or a solid disc) that can rotate on a shaft or axle (as in vehicles or other machines)
6. [n]  a circular helm to control the rudder of a vessel
7. [v]  move along on or as if on wheels or a wheeled vehicle; "The President's convoy rolled past the crowds"
8. [v]  ride a bicycle
9. [v]  change directions as of revolving on a pivot; "They wheeled their horses around and left"
10. [v]  wheel somebody or something

1. \Wheel\, n. [OE. wheel, hweol, AS. hwe['o]l, hweogul,
   hweowol; akin to D. wiel, Icel. hv[=e]l, Gr. ky`klos, Skr.
   cakra; cf. Icel. hj[=o]l, Dan. hiul, Sw. hjul. [root]218. Cf.
   {Cycle}, {Cyclopedia}.]
   1. A circular frame turning about an axis; a rotating disk,
      whether solid, or a frame composed of an outer rim, spokes
      or radii, and a central hub or nave, in which is inserted
      the axle, -- used for supporting and conveying vehicles,
      in machinery, and for various purposes; as, the wheel of a
      wagon, of a locomotive, of a mill, of a watch, etc.
            The gasping charioteer beneath the wheel Of his own
            car.                                  --Dryden.
   2. Any instrument having the form of, or chiefly consisting
      of, a wheel. Specifically:
      (a) A spinning wheel. See under {Spinning}.
      (b) An instrument of torture formerly used.
                His examination is like that which is made by
                the rack and wheel.               --Addison.
   Note: This mode of torture is said to have been first
         employed in Germany, in the fourteenth century. The
         criminal was laid on a cart wheel with his legs and
         arms extended, and his limbs in that posture were
         fractured with an iron bar. In France, where its use
         was restricted to the most atrocious crimes, the
         criminal was first laid on a frame of wood in the form
         of a St. Andrew's cross, with grooves cut transversely
         in it above and below the knees and elbows, and the
         executioner struck eight blows with an iron bar, so as
         to break the limbs in those places, sometimes finishing
         by two or three blows on the chest or stomach, which
         usually put an end to the life of the criminal, and
         were hence called coups-de-grace -- blows of mercy. The
         criminal was then unbound, and laid on a small wheel,
         with his face upward, and his arms and legs doubled
         under him, there to expire, if he had survived the
         previous treatment. --Brande.
      (c) (Naut.) A circular frame having handles on the
          periphery, and an axle which is so connected with the
          tiller as to form a means of controlling the rudder
          for the purpose of steering.
      (d) (Pottery) A potter's wheel. See under {Potter}.
                Then I went down to the potter's house, and,
                behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. --Jer.
                                                  xviii. 3.
                Turn, turn, my wheel! This earthen jar A touch
                can make, a touch can mar.        --Longfellow.
      (e) (Pyrotechny) A firework which, while burning, is
          caused to revolve on an axis by the reaction of the
          escaping gases.
      (f) (Poetry) The burden or refrain of a song.
   Note: ``This meaning has a low degree of authority, but is
         supposed from the context in the few cases where the
         word is found.'' --Nares.
               You must sing a-down a-down, An you call him
               a-down-a. O, how the wheel becomes it! --Shak.
   3. A bicycle or a tricycle; a velocipede.
   4. A rolling or revolving body; anything of a circular form;
      a disk; an orb. --Milton.
   5. A turn revolution; rotation; compass.
            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.                      --South.
            [He] throws his steep flight in many an a["e]ry
            wheel.                                --Milton.
   {A wheel within a wheel}, or {Wheels within wheels}, a
      complication of circumstances, motives, etc.
   {Balance wheel}. See in the Vocab.
   {Bevel wheel}, {Brake wheel}, {Cam wheel}, {Fifth wheel},
   {Overshot wheel}, {Spinning wheel}, etc. See under {Bevel},
      {Brake}, etc.
   {Core wheel}. (Mach.)
      (a) A mortise gear.
      (b) A wheel having a rim perforated to receive wooden
          cogs; the skeleton of a mortise gear.
   {Measuring wheel}, an odometer, or perambulator.
   {Wheel and axle} (Mech.), one of the elementary machines or
      mechanical powers, consisting of a wheel fixed to an axle,
      and used for raising great weights, by applying the power
      to the circumference of the wheel, and attaching the
      weight, by a rope or chain, to that of the axle. Called
      also {axis in peritrochio}, and {perpetual lever}, -- the
      principle of equilibrium involved being the same as in the
      lever, while its action is continuous. See {Mechanical
      powers}, under {Mechanical}.
   {Wheel animal}, or {Wheel animalcule} (Zo["o]l.), any one of
      numerous species of rotifers having a ciliated disk at the
      anterior end.
   {Wheel barometer}. (Physics) See under {Barometer}.
   {Wheel boat}, a boat with wheels, to be used either on water
      or upon inclined planes or railways.
   {Wheel bug} (Zo["o]l.), a large North American hemipterous
      insect ({Prionidus cristatus}) which sucks the blood of
      other insects. So named from the curious shape of the
      prothorax.
   {Wheel carriage}, a carriage moving on wheels.
   {Wheel chains}, or {Wheel ropes} (Naut.), the chains or ropes
      connecting the wheel and rudder.
   {Wheel cutter}, a machine for shaping the cogs of gear
      wheels; a gear cutter.
   {Wheel horse}, one of the horses nearest to the wheels, as
      opposed to a leader, or forward horse; -- called also
      {wheeler}.
   {Wheel lathe}, a lathe for turning railway-car wheels.
   {Wheel lock}.
      (a) A letter lock. See under {Letter}.
      (b) A kind of gunlock in which sparks were struck from a
          flint, or piece of iron pyrites, by a revolving wheel.
      (c) A kind of brake a carriage.
   {Wheel ore} (Min.), a variety of bournonite so named from the
      shape of its twin crystals. See {Bournonite}.
   {Wheel pit} (Steam Engine), a pit in the ground, in which the
      lower part of the fly wheel runs.
   {Wheel plow}, or {Wheel plough}, a plow having one or two
      wheels attached, to render it more steady, and to regulate
      the depth of the furrow.
   {Wheel press}, a press by which railway-car wheels are forced
      on, or off, their axles.
   {Wheel race}, the place in which a water wheel is set.
   {Wheel rope} (Naut.), a tiller rope. See under {Tiller}.
   {Wheel stitch} (Needlework), a stitch resembling a spider's
      web, worked into the material, and not over an open space.
      --Caulfeild & S. (Dict. of Needlework).
   {Wheel tree} (Bot.), a tree ({Aspidosperma excelsum}) of
      Guiana, which has a trunk so curiously fluted that a
      transverse section resembles the hub and spokes of a
      coarsely made wheel. See {Paddlewood}.
   {Wheel urchin} (Zo["o]l.), any sea urchin of the genus
      {Rotula} having a round, flat shell.
   {Wheel window} (Arch.), a circular window having radiating
      mullions arranged like the spokes of a wheel. Cf. {Rose
      window}, under {Rose}.
   

2. \Wheel\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Wheeled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Wheeling}.]
   1. To convey on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle; as, to wheel
      a load of hay or wood.
   2. To put into a rotatory motion; to cause to turn or
      revolve; to cause to gyrate; to make or perform in a
      circle. ``The beetle wheels her droning flight.'' --Gray.
            Now heaven, in all her glory, shone, and rolled Her
            motions, as the great first mover's hand First
            wheeled their course.                 --Milton.
   

3. \Wheel\, v. i.
   1. To turn on an axis, or as on an axis; to revolve; to more
      about; to rotate; to gyrate.
            The moon carried about the earth always shows the
            same face to us, not once wheeling upon her own
            center.                               --Bentley.
   2. To change direction, as if revolving upon an axis or
      pivot; to turn; as, the troops wheeled to the right.
            Being able to advance no further, they are in a fair
            way to wheel about to the other extreme. --South.
   3. To go round in a circuit; to fetch a compass.
            Then wheeling down the steep of heaven he flies.
                                                  --Pope.
   4. To roll forward.
            Thunder mixed with hail, Hail mixed with fire, must
            rend the Egyptian sky, And wheel on the earth,
            devouring where it rolls.             --Milton.
   

[slang "big wheel" for a powerful person] A person who has an active wheel bit. "We need to find a wheel to unwedge the hung tape drives." (See wedged).

[Jargon File]

(Heb. galgal; rendered "wheel" in Ps. 83:13, and "a rolling thing" in Isa. 17:13; R.V. in both, "whirling dust"). This word has been supposed to mean the wild artichoke, which assumes the form of a globe, and in autumn breaks away from its roots, and is rolled about by the wind in some places in great numbers.