subs. (old).—1. A five-shilling piece; 5s.: see CARTWHEEL (GROSE). Also (Tufts)—a dollar.
2. (colloquial).—A bicycle, or tricycle; as verb = to ride a bicycle or tricycle. Hence WHEELMAN (or -WOMAN) = a cyclist: also KNIGHT OF THE WHEEL; WHEELING = cycling: also THE WHEELING WORLD (generic for ‘cycledom’).
1880. Century, xix. 496. In the parlors the costumes of the WHEELMEN seemed not so much out of place as they were pleasing in their variety and color. Ibid. (1884), xxviii. Sept., 643. One young girl on a three-wheeler was attended by a youth on a bicycle, who WHEELED attentively by her side. Ibid., 646. As WHEELMEN nowadays so greatly abound, the landlords profit by this arrangement no less than their favored guests.
1885. J. and E. R. PENNELL, A Canterbury Pilgrimage, 17. The sun, gladdened by the sweet air, shone on the fields and woods, and the ugly barracks and pretty cottages by which we WHEELED.
TO BREAK A FLY (or BUTTERFLY) ON A WHEEL, verb. phr. (common).—To punish unduly, without regard to the gravity of the crime, or the standing of the offender; whence to use means altogether out of proportion to the end in view; to ‘crack a nut with a Nasmyth hammer.’
1734. POPE, Satires, Prologue, 308.
| Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel? | |
| Who BREAKS A BUTTERFLY UPON A WHEEL? |
1857. DICKENS, Little Dorrit, II. 21. He was sorry … for the excellent people, and deplored the necessity of BREAKING mere house-FLIES ON THE WHEEL.
TO GREASE THE WHEELS, verb. phr. (common).—1. To furnish money for a specific object: see GREASE.
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 74. Your uncle … regaled us yesterday … and paid the piper…. To-day the WHEELS ARE GREASED by your humble servant.
TO GO (or RUN) ON WHEELS, verb, phr. (old).—1. To do with ease, expedition, without exertion.
2. (old).—Said of one suffering from the after-effects of drunkenness.
1772. BRIDGES, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, 114.
| Strong liquor don’t agree with me; | |
| My head’s too heavy for my heels, | |
| And all the world RUNS ROUND ON WHEELS. |
TO PUT ONE’S SHOULDER TO THE WHEEL, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To put one’s heart into a matter, to buckle to, to do with spirit, resolution, or courage.
WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Complication, intricacies, something other than that which is apparent at first sight. [Cf. Ezekiel i. 16.]
1730. R. NORTH, The Life of Lord Guildford, ii. 144. It was notorious that after this secretary retired the king’s affairs went backwards; WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS took place; the ministers turned formalisers, and the court mysterious.
1760. C. JOHNSTONE, Chrysal, II. 196. But, sir, is there not danger of their being provoked by such an attack, to say something improper, and that they who made the contracts with them may do you an ill office on another occasion? They are WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS.
1837. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, xl. ‘And a birdcage, sir,’ said Sam; ‘VEELS VITHIN VEELS, a prison in a prison.’
TO STEER A TRICK AT THE WHEEL. See TRICK.
TO PUT A SPOKE IN ONE’S WHEEL (or CART), verb. phr. (old).—To do an ill turn. Occasionally (by an unwarrantable inversion) = to assist.
1661–91. Merry Drollery [EBSWORTH, 1875], 224.
| He had a strong, and a very stout heart, | |
| And look’d to be made an Emperour for’t, | |
| But the Divel did SET A SPOKE IN HIS CART. |
1689. God’s Last Twenty-Nine Years’ Wonders in England for its Preservation and Deliverance from Popery and Slavery [WALSH]. Both … bills were such SPOKES IN THEIR CHARIOT-WHEELS that made them drive much heavier.
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 19. Rolando put a SPOKE IN THEIR WHEEL by representing that they ought at least to wait till the lady … could come in for her share of the amusement.
1855. THACKERAY, The Newcomes, ix. There’s a SPOKE IN YOUR WHEEL, you stuck-up little Duchess.
1872. G. ELIOT, Middlemarch, xiii. It seems to me it would be a very poor sort of religion TO PUT A SPOKE IN HIS WHEEL by refusing to say you don’t believe.
1898. W. S. WALSH, Handy-book of Literary Curiosities, 1030. When solid wheels were used, the driver was provided with a pin or SPOKE, which he thrust into one of the three holes made to receive it, to skid the cart when it went down-hill.
WHEEL-HAND IN THE NICK, phr. (old).—‘Regular Drinking over the left Thumb’ (B. E.).
