Forms: see prec. [f. WHEEL sb.]
I. To move like a wheel (and connected senses).
* 1. intr. To turn or revolve about an axis or center, like a wheel on its axle; to rotate; to whirl.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 356. Heo beoð her hweolinde ase hweoles þet ouerturneð sone, and ne lesteð none hwule.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CVII. x. Now shipp with men do touch the skies:… For now the whirlwinde makes them wheele: Now stop’d in midst of broken round As drunckards use, they staggring reele.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., I. V. xi. (1890), 262. His Glory sound thou first Mobile, which mak’st all wheel In circle round.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), I. 426. If the Earth wheels around it’s axis.
1813. Scott, Trierm., III. xxi. When the whirlwind’s gusts are wheeling.
1819. Shelley, Mask of Anarchy, lxxviii. Let the horsemen’s scimitars Wheel and flash, like sphereless stars.
1886. F. Harrison, Choice of Bks., i. 23. The gates which lead to the Elysian fields may slowly wheel back on their adamantine hinges.
b. fig. of time, the seasons.
1660. Stanley, Hist. Philos., XIII. (1687), 859/2. When they beheld the course of the Heavens, and the various Seasons of the year, to wheel about, and return in certain order.
a. 1849. J. C. Mangan, Poems (1859), 35. When Years have wheeled.
1871. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), II. II. iii. I wait, and Time around me wheels.
c. To reel, as from giddiness; to be affected with giddiness. Also fig.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T., Wks. (Grosart), IV. 183. Why doe not all thinges wheele and swarue topsie-turuy?
1620. [G. Brydges], Horæ Subs., 116. If these giddy goers bee forced to giue a reason for their wheeling vp and downe the streets.
1638. ‘R. Junius,’ Drunkard’s Char., 154. No man ever saw mee so much as wheele in the streets; I am therefore no drunkard.
1832. Marryat, Newton Forster, xxvi. [His] head wheeled with the sudden change in his prospects.
2. trans. To turn (something) on or as on a wheel; to cause to revolve about an axis; to rotate; to cause to move in a circle or cycle.
Used with variety of context, lit. and fig.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 139. Fortune on loft And vnder eft gan hem to whielen bothe.
c. 1480. Henryson, Fox, Wolf & Husb., xxvii. This fair is of fortoun: As ane cummis vp, scho quheillis ane vther doun.
1593. Q. Eliz., Boeth., III. met. ix. 3. Thou … who time from first Bidst go, and stable stedy all elz dost while.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, III. xvii. 284. In the execution of their rites, shaking and wheeling their heads like madde men.
1635. R. N., trans. Camden’s Hist. Eliz., IV. 532. Affaires in Court were not long wheeled about upon one Axell-tree.
1654. Sir A. Johnston, Diary (S.H.S.), II. 197. The Lord semes to be wheeling al things about to the re-establishing of that Covenant agayne.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 501. Now Heav’n … rowld Her motions, as the great first-Movers hand First wheeld thir course.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., IV. ii. 161. Others will have the Arm to be wheeled about by the Infraspinatus.
1820. Keats, Lamia, II. 64. While through the thronged streets your bridal car Wheels round its dazzling spokes.
1855. E. Forbes, Lit. Papers, ix. 250. The Lamas, whose temples, modes of worship,… compendious methods of wheeling their prayers, [etc.].
1875. Browning, Aristoph. Apol., Herakles, 1397. I shall play Ixion’s part quite out, the chained and wheeled.
b. spec. To twirl or flourish (a stick) in menace or challenge. Also absol. (in Irish use).
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 243. If at any time we went slowly, hee wheeled his cudgell about his head, and crying Wohowe Rooe [etc.].
1875. Daily News, 26 Feb., 6/2. ‘Wheeling,’ said he [Baron Dowse], ‘is one of those challenges which is given by this energetic population to express their own anxiety for a free fight, and their desire that some one, no matter who, will engage in combat against them.’
1893. Le Fanu, 70 Yrs. Irish Life, iii. 32. One man ‘wheeled,’ as they called it, for his party; that is, he marched up and down, flourishing his blackthorn, and shouting the battle-cry of his faction.
3. Mil. intr. Of a rank or body of troops: To turn, with a movement like that of the spokes of a wheel, about a pivot (PIVOT sb. 2), so as to change front.
1579. Digges, Stratiot., 111. The Ruyters vse to Wheele about with their whole Troupe.
1671. Milton, P. R., III. 323. He saw them in thir forms of battell rang’d, How quick they wheel’d.
1672. Venn, Milit. Discipl., 62. Right half ranks, wheel about to the right until they be even a breast with the front half files.
1744. M. Bishop, Life, 212. The Colonel … said, wheel to the left of the Battalion.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xlvii. Leading file, to the right wheel—trot.
1859. F. A. Griffiths, Artil. Man. (1862), 9. Left wheel into line. Quick march.
b. trans. To cause (a rank or body of troops) to turn in this way.
1634. Peacham, Compl. Gentl., xx. 245, marg. Wheele the Body to the right hand.
c. 1720. De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 104. I wheeled off my troop.
1814. Scott, Wav., xxxix. He wheeled his little body of cavalry round the base of the castle.
1833. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 34. The ranks are then wheeled up.
4. intr. To turn so as to face in a different direction; to turn round or aside, esp. quickly or suddenly. Often with round, about, † off.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, III. xi. 127. The French and English wheeling about, charged the Turks most furiously.
1644. Symonds, Diary (Camden), 148. The rebells wheeled off behind their owne cannon and musqueteers.
1735. Somerville, Chase, III. 105. How to the Head they press, Justling in close Array, then more diffuse Obliquely wheel.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 518. His steed Declin’d the death, and wheeling swiftly round … Baffled his rider.
1827. Scott, Highl. Widow, v. A party of five Highland soldiers … wheeled suddenly into sight.
1867. J. T. Headley, Farragut & Nav. Commanders, 576. [The captain] wheeled out of line and ran with a full head of steam on straight into the ironclad monster.
1888. ‘J. S. Winter,’ Bootle’s Childr., vii. He wheeled round from the window as if he was about to confront Halliday and offer to fight him on the spot.
b. fig. To change or reverse one’s opinion, attitude, or course of action; to turn aside, deviate, decline from some course or attitude.
1632. G. Herbert, Church Militant, 54. Plato and Aristotle were at a losse, And wheel’d about again to spell Christ-Crosse.
1663. Heath, Flagellum (1672), 27. Who had wheeled from his Loyalty during the War.
a. 1716. South, Serm., 2 Thess. ii. 11, II. Wks. 1727, IV. 413. From Independents they improved into Anabaptists. From Anabaptists into Quakers: From whence being able to advance no farther, they are in a fair Way to wheel about to the other Extreme of Popery.
1784. P. Wright, New Bk. Martyrs, 807/2. Jeffreys summed up the evidence against the parson, but wheeled at last into this.
c. trans. To turn (a person, animal or thing) round or aside.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, II. viii. So had he seen, in fair Castile, The youth in glittering squadrons start, Sudden the flying jennet wheel, And hurl the unexpected dart.
1829. G. Head, Forest Scenes N. Amer., 121. Wheeled round every now and then by the wind, we were enveloped in clouds.
1842. Lover, Handy Andy, xix. Wheeling his horse suddenly round, he charged along the advancing front of the people.
** 5. intr. To move like a point in the circumference of a wheel; to move in a circle, spiral, or similar curve; to circle, revolve; to go round about.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXXIV. xiv. He commaunded two elect cohorts of footmen to wheele about the right flanke of the enemies.
1607. Shaks., Cor., I. vi. 19. I was forc’d to wheele Three or four miles about.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 185. I might see him send two horsemen after me, who wheeling about the mountaines,… suddenly rushed vpon me.
1665. Phil. Trans., I. 72. These two Planets have Moons wheeling about them.
1703. Pope, Thebais, 441. The son of May … wheeling down the steep of heav’n he flies, And draws a radiant circle o’er the skies.
1726–46. Thomson, Winter, 145. The cormorant on high Wheels from the deep.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xcviii. When all is gay … With sport and song,… And wheels the circled dance.
1863. Dickens, Uncomm. Trav., xxiv. The gulls that wheel and dip around me.
1892. Kipling, Barrack-room Ballads, L’Envoi, ix. The old lost stars wheel back, dear lass, That blaze in the velvet blue.
fig. 1661. J. Stephens, Procurations, 128. But I wheel too far about.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 132. Those occurrences which wheeled in their Sphere.
1749. Smollett, Regic., IV. ii. Love, Jealousy, implacable Despair In Tempests wheel.
b. trans. To cause (something) to move in this way; to perform (a movement), trace (a course), spend (a time) in this way.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IV. 704. ’Till the twelfth moon had wheel’d her pale career.
1750. Gray, Elegy, ii. Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight.
1808. Scott, Marm., VI. xx. Wheeling their march, and circling still, Around the base of Flodden hill.
1817. Coleridge, Sibyl. Leaves, Happy Husband, iii. Transient joys, that … into tenderness soon dying, Wheel out their giddy moment.
1839. Kemble, Resid. Georgia (1863), 21. Hawks of every sort and size wheel their steady rounds above the rice-fields.
1846. Tennyson, Golden Year, 24. The Sun flies forward to his brother Sun; The dark Earth follows, wheel’d in her ellipse.
6. transf. a. intr. To extend in a circle or curve. ? Obs. rare.
1648. Gage, West Ind., xvii. 114. In a narrow passage where the way went wheeling.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd., I. 112. Coal and coal metals … wave and wheel.
1791. W. Gilpin, Rem. Forest Scenery, II. 120. A forest-lawn,… which wheeled around us in the form of a crescent.
† b. trans. To encircle, surround, encompass. Obs. rare.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 55. He spyed his person with Troian coompanye wheeled.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 783. Half these draw off, and coast the South With strictest watch; these other wheel the North.
*** 7. intr. To roll along like a wheel. rare.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 183. Haile mixt with fire must rend th’ Egyptian Skie And wheel on th’ Earth, devouring where it rouls.
1875. F. T. Buckland, Log-Bk., 355. The waves at the outer end wheeled at a swift gallop.
II. To move on, or by means of, wheels.
* 8. trans. To convey in a wheeled vehicle, or on a chair, sofa, etc., moving on wheels.
1601. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 139. For whellinge forth xxv quarters of colles, vjd.
1740. Mrs. E. Montagu, Corr. (1906), I. 41. Lord Berkshire was wheeled into the rooms on Thursday night, where he saluted me with much snuff and civility.
1761. Colman, Jealous Wife, I. 22. You shall clap Her into a Post-Chaise,… wheel Her down to Scotland.
1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxix. Let the gardener … press the leaves into full barrows, and wheel them off, still they lie ankle-deep.
1888. ‘J. S. Winter,’ Bootle’s Childr., vi. She was able to totter to the sofa and be wheeled into the adjoining room.
b. fig. To pass or convey easily or smoothly, as if on wheels. rare.
1658. Harrington, Oceana, 23. Through the paucity of her Citizens, her greater Magistracies are continually wheeled through a few hands.
1689. Hickeringill, Ceremony Monger, vi. Wks. 1716, II. 444. We’ll have as many Organs … if we have nothing else to do with our Money; or cannot tell how to wheel off an hour or two in Devotions.
1851. Mrs. Browning, Casa Guidi Wind., II. 309. As some smooth river which has overflowed Will slow and silent down its current wheel A loosened forest.
9. intr. To travel in or drive a wheeled vehicle; to go along on wheels, as a vehicle; mod. colloq. to ride a bicycle or tricycle, to ‘cycle.’
1721. Ramsay, Content, 351. He found he could not walk,… and wheel’d away.
1768. Sterne, Sent. Journ., The Address. By the time he [sc. a coachman] had wheel’d round the court, and brought me up to the door.
1798. Jane Austen, Northang. Abb., xx. The chaise and four wheeled off with some grandeur.
1834. Century Mag., Sept., 643/2. A youth on a bicycle, who wheeled attentively by her side.
1898. Hamblen, Gen. Manager’s Story, v. 48. Both trains were wheeling down under the bridge at a forty-mile gait.
10. trans. To push or draw (something) on wheels.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 37. Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round.
1832. Lytton, Eugene Aram, I. v. The sofa was wheeled into the hall where they dined.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xlix. He wheeled the table close against Florence on the sofa.
1885. Law Times, LXXIX. 47/1. A porter … put all the luggage on a trolley … and wheeled the trolley on to the platform.
1896. H. G. Wells, Wheels of Chance, ix. 62. The other man in brown had a bad puncture and was wheeling his machine.
** † 11. ? To wind up the mechanism of: in quot. fig. Obs. rare.
1632. Mason’s Turke (ed. 2), Argt. There are other passages of Triuiall Inferior persons, Interwouen into this peice, which serue as a foyle to the Brauery and hight of the Tragedy, yet are Instruments aptly set going to wheele vp the worke.
III. Miscellaneous uses.
† 12. intr. Of a peacock: To spread the tail in a circular form like a wheel. Also trans. with the tail as obj. Obs.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, I. 1805. Prowde as a Pecocke whelynge full bryght.
1600. Surflet, Country Farm, I. xix. 115. You neede no other signe then his [sc. the peacock’s] viewing of himselfe, and couering of his whole bodie with the feathers of his taile, and then we say hee wheeleth.
1656. W. Du Gard, trans. Comenius’ Gate Lat. Unl., § 137. The most fair is the Peacock, ever and anon wheeling his glorious tail.
1745. trans. Columella’s Husb., VIII. xi. It is a sign, that his [the peacock’s] lust is stimulated, when he covers himself with the pinions of his tail, which glister as if they were set with precious stones, as if he were admiring himself; and, when he does that, he is said to wheel, or be in his pride.
13. trans. To make like a wheel; to give a circular or curved form to. rare.
1656. W. Du Gard, trans. Comenius’ Gate Lat. Unl., § 203. The hair covereth the chiefest part of the head, being wheeled on the crown [capilli … rotati in vertice].
1808. Scott, Marm., V. vi. At every turn, with dinning clang, The armourer’s anvil clash’d and rang; Or toil’d the swarthy smith, to wheel The bar that arms the charger’s heel.
14. To furnish with a wheel or wheels.
1661, 1898. [see WHEELING vbl. sb. f].
1802. H. Martin, Helen of Glenross, I. 46. She begged leave to paint, glaze, new carpet, and new wheel the old coach.
15. To torture or ‘break’ on a wheel. Obs. rare.
1611. [implied in WHEELING vbl. sb. h].
16. To form or shape on a wheel, as pottery.
17. Tanning. = PIN-WHEEL v.
1885. C. T. Davis, Manuf. Leather, 530. The skins next go into the England wheel vat … and are ‘wheeled’ in sumach liquor.
