wheel 1 S2 W3 / wil / 名词 [可数名词]

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

front/rear/back wheels :

The car slid sideways, its rear wheels spinning . → four-wheel drive

2 for controlling a vehicle [通常单数形式] 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 shoulder 1 ( 8 ) , → put a spoke in sb’s wheel at spoke 2 ( 2 ) , → reinvent the wheel at reinvent ( 3 )

COLLOCATIONS

形容词

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.

动词

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.

短语

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 )