wheel

 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++朗文当代英语 5++LDOCE 5++朗文 5++

Related topics: Transport, Mechanical

wheel1 /wiːl/ ●●● S2 W3 noun [countable]  1  on a vehicle 车辆上的TT one of the round things under a car, bus, bicycle etc that turns when it moves 车轮front/rear/back wheels The car slid sideways, its rear wheels spinning. 汽车向一侧打滑，后轮猛转。 → four-wheel drive →4  See picture of 见图 MOTORBIKE →5 see picture at 见图 motorbike2  for controlling a vehicle 用于控制车船等TTDRIVE [usually singular] the round piece of equipment that you turn to make a car, ship etc move in a particular direction 〔汽车、轮船等的〕方向盘，转向盘at/behind the wheel (=driving a car) 在驾驶汽车 The driver must have fallen asleep at the wheel. 司机一定是在开车时睡着了。 Shall I take the wheel (=drive instead of someone else)? 我来开车好吗？ → steering wheel3  in a machine 机器上的TEM a flat round part in a machine that turns round when the machine operates 机轮 a gear wheel 齿轮4  the wheels of something the way in which a complicated organization, system etc works 〔复杂的机构、体系等的〕运作方式 We hope that the next government will do more to keep the wheels of industry turning (=help it to work smoothly and easily). 我们希望下届政府作出更多努力，让工业顺利发展。oil/grease the wheels (of something) (=help something to work more smoothly and easily) 使(某事)顺利发展 The money people spend at Christmas oils the wheels of the economy. 人们在圣诞节所花的钱推动经济发展。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 命运之轮/生命之轮/时间的车轮等 We are powerless to stop the wheel of history. 我们无力阻挡历史的车轮。6  (set of) wheels spokenTTC a car 汽车 Do you like my new wheels? 你喜欢我的新车吗？7. wheels within wheels spokenCOMPLICATED used to say that a situation is complicated and difficult to understand because it involves processes and decisions that you know nothing about 错综复杂的情况，复杂的形势8  set the wheels in motion/set the wheels turning to make a particular process start 让〔某过程〕运作起来 It only took one phone call to set the wheels in motion. 一个电话就促成了这件事的发生。n9  the wheels come off something used to say that something suddenly stops being successful Why did the wheels come off his campaign?10  a/the big wheel  informal an important person 重要人物 He became a big wheel in the East India Company. 他成了东印度公司的要人。 → put your shoulder to the wheel at shoulder1(8), → put a spoke in somebody’s wheel at spoke2(2), → reinvent the wheel at reinvent(3)n COLLOCATIONSadjectivesthe front wheelTurn your front wheels in the direction of the skid.the back/rear wheelThe rear wheels of the bus got stuck in a creek.verbsa wheel turns/goes aroundThe wheels went slowly around.a wheel spins (=turns around quickly, when the vehicle is not going along)The rear wheels spun in the sand.phrasesthe spokes of a wheel (=the thin metal bars that connect the outer ring of a wheel to the centre, especially on a bicycle wheel)

Examples from the Corpus

wheel• A big wheel in local government.• The real danger to the mountain vegetation comes not from cycle wheels but from acid rain and global warming.• Outside, a dozen gleaming Harleys were parked in a row, backed in, wheels cut to the left, identical.• As soon as they were taken from shelter, they began to slide on locked wheels over the yard, and then to tilt.• I missed the slower trains with the lounge cars and the rackety wheels.• I let myself droop against the steering wheel.• By Easter 1991 the above were well on the way, and the wheels had also been fitted.• Locomotives weighing thirty or forty tons caused havoc where wheel met rail, iron rails sometimes needing replacement every two years.at/behind the wheel• When you are behind the wheel, your most important responsibility is safe driving.• With Chancellor at the wheel, they had left enfamille to do the shopping.• After thirty minutes I went outside, opened the door of the Falcon and sat down behind the wheel.• He decided to wait, watching as the driver switched off the engine and slid from behind the wheel.• Jack tipped him five and got behind the wheel of his Lincoln, which he was buying on time.• Sweating with fear, Lepine dashed along the verandah and flung himself behind the wheel of the Citron.• Elizabeth was slaughtered at the wheel of her boyfriend's four-wheel-drive truck as she desperately tried to escape.

Related topics: Transport, Air

wheel2 ●○○ verb  1  [transitive always + adverb/preposition] a) TTPUSHto push something that has wheels somewhere 推动〔带轮子的东西〕 Kate wheeled her bike into the garage. 凯特把她的自行车推进车库。 b) MOVE something OR somebodyto move someone or something that is in or on something that has wheels 用轮椅[手推车等]推动〔某人或某物〕 Two nurses were wheeling him into the operating theatre. 两名护士正把他推进手术室。► see thesaurus at push2. [intransitive]TTABBA if birds or planes wheel, they fly around in circles 〔鸟或飞机〕盘旋3  [intransitive]TURN to turn around suddenly 突然转身wheel around She wheeled around and started yelling at us. 她突然转身，冲着我们嚷嚷起来。4. wheel and deal BBPPto do a lot of complicated and sometimes dishonest deals, especially in politics or business 〔尤指在政治或商业上〕投机取巧，玩弄手段5 wheel somebody/something ↔ in/out phrasal verb informal SHOW/LET somebody SEE somethingto publicly produce someone or something and use them to help you achieve something 〔为帮助自己达成某事而〕请出〔某人〕，推出〔某物〕 Then the prosecution wheeled in a surprise witness. 然后控方请出了一名意想不到的证人。 The government wheeled out the same old arguments to support its election campaign. 政府又搬出老一套论调来支持其选举活动。→ See Verb table

Examples from the Corpus

wheel• Just forget about anyone wheeling a linen-covered table into your room with plates, silverware, wine glasses and ice buckets.• Theresa is wheeling a pushchair and trying to cope with the twins.• The pigeons wheel and scuttle around us.• As I arrived she was just wheeling her bicycle out of the shed.• Two other buzzards wheel in on big circling paths further along, about 30m above the woods.• No one said a word until the waiters wheeled in the centrepiece of the main course.• I collected a trolley and wheeled it towards the frozen food section.• They then wheeled me into the operating room.• The seagulls wheeled off and up over the harbour.• And above, the pinpricks of light wheeling on.• She hated being wheeled round in a wheelchair.wheel around• She wheeled around and started yelling at us.Origin wheel1 Old English hweogol, hweol

wheel1 noun →n COLLOCATIONS1wheel2 verbLDOCE OnlineChinese  

one things Corpus the round under of a

wheel

I

wheel¹ S2 W3 /wiːl/ noun [countable]1.  ON A VEHICLE one of the round things under a car, bus, bicycle etc that turns when it movesfront/rear/back wheels:
    The car slid sideways, its rear wheels spinning. ⇨ four-wheel drive
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 something 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 something) (=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(3)
     

COLLOCATIONS

■ adjectives
   ▪ the front wheel Turn your front wheels in the direction of the skid.
   ▪ the back/rear wheel The rear wheels of the bus got stuck in a creek.
■ verbs
   ▪ a wheel turns/goes around The wheels went slowly around.
   ▪ a wheel spins (=turns around quickly, when the vehicle is not going along) The rear wheels spun in the sand.
■ phrases
   ▪ the spokes of a wheel (=the thin metal bars that connect the outer ring of a wheel to the centre, especially on a bicycle wheel)

II

wheel² verb
1. [transitive 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. [intransitive] if birds or planes wheel, they fly around in circles
3. [intransitive] 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 somebody/something ↔ in/out phrasal verb informal
  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.
     

THESAURUS

   ▪ push to make something or someone move by pressing them with your hands, arms etc: Push the door, don’t pull it. | She pushed him away and walked out.
   ▪ shove to push someone or something in a rough or careless way: People were shoving to get to the front of the queue. | Tom shoved his suitcase under the bed.
   ▪ stuff informal to push something quickly and carelessly into a small space: She stuffed a few clothes into a bag and left.
   ▪ poke to push someone or something with your finger or something sharp: I poked the snake with a stick but it was dead.
   ▪ nudge to push someone beside you gently with your elbow to get their attention: Toby nudged me and pointed out of the window.
   ▪ roll to push something round or something on wheels so that it moves forward: They rolled the logs down the hill. | The car still didn’t start so we tried to roll it off the road.
   ▪ wheel to push something with wheels, for example a bicycle or a trolley, so that it moves forward, while guiding it with your hands: Rob wheeled his bike round the back of the house.