[f. WHEEL v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb WHEEL, in various senses.
a. Turning or revolution about an axis or center; rotation. Also fig. b. Mil. (See WHEEL v. 3.) Also Attrib. c. A turning aside or in a different direction, deviation; also fig. d. Motion (or transf. extension) in a circle or curve; circling, circuitous movement; also fig. e. Conveyance of something in a wheelbarrow or the like; travelling in a wheeled vehicle, or (colloq.) on a bicycle or tricycle. Also attrib. f. Furnishing or fitting with a wheel or wheels. g. Needlework. The making or working of ‘wheels’: see WHEEL sb. 8 (a); attrib. as in wheeling stitch, yarn, etc. † h. Torturing or ‘breaking’ on a wheel. Obs. i. The process of shaping or forming something by means of a wheel; in quots. attrib.
a. 1483. Earl Rivers, Ball., 6, in Ritson, Anc. Songs (1877), 150. This world being of such whelyng Me contrarieng.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xiii. 223. The wheelings about of the Skye.
1594. Nashe, Terrors of Night, Wks. (Grosart), III. 269. As the firmament is still mouing and working, so vncessant is the wheeling and rolling on of our braines.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 318. All Rotations and Wheelings cause a kind of Giddiness in the Brain.
1773. Mrs. Grant, Lett. fr. Mount. (1807), I. xiii. 105. The ‘boiling’ and ‘wheeling’ of the waters below.
b. 1623. ‘Jack Dawe,’ Vox Graculi, 38. What wheelings, what windings, what summoning to parlees.
1625. Markham, Souldiers Accid., 22. Wheeling (as by conversion or turning to either hand).
1796. Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813), 15. In division Wheelings, the whole keep closed lightly towards the hand they wheel to, and must avoid pressing the pivot man off his ground.
1832. Prop. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, II. 10. Wheeling should at first be practised in single rank.
1833. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 20. The Wheeling Step, or March, is 120 steps of 30 inches each, or 300 feet in a minute.
1894. Outing (U. S.), XXIV. 236/1. The wheelings and dress are fully equal to the best regular regiments.
c. a. 1660. Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), I. 182. His unconstant whilinges to Ormond.
a. 1711. Ken, Anodynes, Poet. Wks. 1721, III. 431. I sooner cou’d of shifting Wind, The Rise, Recess, and Wheelings find, Than of my heart detect the Wiles.
d. 1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 24. After all this wheeling about, we are not a step further than we were.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd., I. 15. A different dip or declivity of the strata, which is occasioned by the waving and wheeling of the strata.
1839. Mrs. Kirkland, New Home, xvi. 101. We had been watching the wheelings and fittings of a flock of prairie hens.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., xxx. The hovering and wheeling of Grandcourt’s caprice.
e. 1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 113. When stones can be got within a wheeling distance, or about sixty or seventy yards.
1882. Prospectus Cycle Touring Club. The encouragement of all that is admirable in the art of wheeling.
1883. W. H. Bishop, in Harper’s Mag., Oct., 727/2. Whereas travelling in the saddle was formerly a necessity, wheeling is now everywhere easy.
f. 1661. in Swayne, Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896), 334. Stocking and wheeling of the same [sc. bells].
1875. Carpentry & Join., 120. Far more suitable for amateurs than building or ‘wheeling’ as it is termed.
1898. Daily News, 21 Feb., 6/5. The gearing and wheeling of the cars.
g. 1808. Jamieson, Wheelin, coarse worsted.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 4032. Fingering, lambs-wool, and wheeling hosiery.
1880. Plain Hints Needlework, 29. Wheeling yarn.
h. 1611. Coryat, Crudities, 388. The fifth and last punishment is wheeling, which is onely for murderers.
i. 1832. Standard, 16 Sept., 8/2. Brickmakers’ plant and stock, comprising … iron wheeling plates.
1884. B’ham Daily Post, 23 Feb., 2/4. Tin and Iron-plate workers, &c. … Wireing, Swaging and Wheeling Machines.
