wheel

(hwēl, wēl)

1. A solid disk or a rigid circular ring connected by spokes to a hub, designed to turn around an axle passed through the center.
2. Something resembling such a disk or ring in appearance or movement or having a wheel as its principal part or characteristic, as:
   1. The steering device on a vehicle.
   2. A potter's wheel.
   3. A water wheel.
   4. A spinning wheel.
   5. Games. A device used in roulette and other games of chance.
   6. A firework that rotates while burning.
   7. Informal. A bicycle.
   8. An instrument to which a victim was bound for torture during the Middle Ages.
3. wheels Forces that provide energy, movement, or direction: the wheels of commerce.
4. The act or process of turning; revolution or rotation.
5. A military maneuver executed in order to change the direction of movement of a formation, as of troops or ships, in which the formation is maintained while the outer unit describes an arc and the inner or center unit remains stationary as a pivot.
6. wheels Slang. A motor vehicle or access thereto: Do you have wheels tonight?
7. Slang. A person with a great deal of power or influence: a wheel in state government.

1. To roll, move, or transport on wheels or a wheel.
2. To cause to turn around or as if around a central axis; revolve or rotate.
3. To provide with wheels or a wheel.

1. To turn around or as if around a central axis; revolve or rotate.
2. To roll or move on or as if on wheels or a wheel.
3. To fly in a curving or circular course: A flock of gulls wheeled just above the dock.
4. To turn or whirl around in place; pivot: "The boy wheeled and the fried eggs leaped from his tray" (Ivan Gold).
5. To reverse one's opinion or practice: Don't be surprised if the boss wheels about on that idea.

at (or behind) the wheel

1. Operating the steering mechanism of a vehicle; driving.
2. Directing or controlling; in charge.

1. To engage in the advancement of one's own interests, especially in a canny, aggressive, or unscrupulous way.

[Middle English, from Old English hwēol.]

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noun

1. A closed plane curve everywhere equidistant from a fixed point or something shaped like this: band¹, circle, circuit, disk, gyre, ring¹. Archaic orb. See geometry.
2. Circular movement around a point or about an axis: circuit, circulation, circumvolution, gyration, revolution, rotation, turn, whirl. See geometry, repetition.

verb

1. To move or cause to move in circles or around an axis: circle, circumvolve, gyrate, orbit, revolve, rotate, turn. See move/halt, repetition.
2. To run and control (a motor vehicle): drive, motor, pilot. Slang tool. See move/halt.
3. To turn or cause to turn in place, as on a hinge or fixed point, tracing an arclike path: pivot, swing. See move/halt.

Idioms beginning with wheel:
wheels in motion
wheel and deal
wheels within wheels

See also asleep at the switch (wheel); at the wheel; big cheese (wheel); cog in the wheel; fifth wheel; grease (oil) the wheels; hell on wheels; put one's shoulder to the wheel; reinvent the wheel; set (wheels) in motion; spin one's wheels; squeaky wheel gets the grease.

[from slang ‘big wheel’ for a powerful person] A person who has an active wheel bit. “We need to find a wheel to unwedge the hung tape drives.” (See wedged, sense 1.) The traditional name of security group zero in BSD (to which the major system-internal users like root belong) is ‘wheel’. Some vendors have expanded on this usage, modifying Unix so that only members of group ‘wheel’ can go root.

The wheel symbolizes the first invention to the extent that the unnecessary rediscovery of any simple idea prompts the cliché "reinventing the wheel." But the wheel is far from the earliest invention. In the history of humanity, the wheel is recent. It is not known for sure what the first invention was, but our ancestors were making a vast array of tools for a couple of million years before anyone got around to the wheel.

The wheel was invented before it was used for transportation. The first wheels were potter's wheels. Before the potter's wheel, nature was essentially without wheels of any kind, as only a few microscopic animals, certainly unknown to early humans, possess anything like wheels for any purpose, especially not for transportation.

As with most inventions, the wheel not only had predecessors, it also required a number of related inventions before it could be useful. This concept is exploited for humor in Johnny Hart's comic strip B.C. An early inventor appears with his wheel, although he has failed to invent the cart, to build the road, or to domesticate the animal that would make his wheel of any use. Instead, he travels on it by standing on projecting axles and simply rolls along, downhill one presumes.

Before there were wheels, people dragged things across the ground. To help them in this task they first devised various forms of yokes, so that two or more persons or animals could work together to drag the same heavy load. A later invention, sleds of one form or another, could do a better job of dragging something that was too heavy to lift. One virtue of a sled is that it has nothing to catch on uneven surfaces as it is dragged. Where there was ice and snow, sleds -- even in their highly individual form of skis (one sled for each foot) -- are especially effective. Mesolithic rock carvings from Scandinavia show people skiing. A sled -- also called a sledge -- is clearly depicted in a pictograph dating from about 3500 bce in Uruk in Mesopotamia. Just as clearly, one of the earliest wheeled vehicles, looking like a sled on wheels, is in the same drawing. Similarly, in one early cuneiform script the symbol for sledge existed first, a virtual pictogram of a sled with turned up runners. At a later date, the same symbol was used with wheels attached to mean cart. Thus, the cart was an easy step from the sled.

It is widely assumed that an immediate predecessor of the wheel consisted of logs used as rollers for moving such heavy objects as the stones used in building the pyramids. There is no evidence for this. Early wheels are from Mesopotamia, where there were few logs in existence. The Mesopotamian wheels featured three planks cut and joined to make a wheel. Because of the grain in wood, wheels made by slicing a round section from a log tend to fall apart rapidly. Wheels can simply be attached to the sides of a cart with short axles on which the wheels turn independently, but early wheels were fixed to long axles that rotated as the cart moved.

The first use of the wheel was probably not utilitarian at all but ceremonial: Carts were used to transport effigies of deities and important people. Since important dead people were carried in the first such carts, it might be said that the hearse was invented before other forms of cart. The use of the cart for the transport of goods appeared about 1000 years after its invention.

Wheeled vehicles were used in war from early on. In Mesopotamia, four-wheeled wagons served as platforms for javelin throwers; two-wheeled war chariots also appeared first in Mesopotamia. Chariots were easily maneuverable because of the use of the much lighter spoked wheels, which were first known in Egypt about 2000 bce.

The wheel spread from Mesopotamia quickly into Northwest Europe. Wheels also came into use around that time in India and China. In Egypt, the wheel became known about 2500 bce. However, the use of the wheel remained unknown in large parts of the world including Southeast Asia, Africa south of the Sahara, and Australia and Polynesia, until much more recent times. Carts for transport disappeared subsequently in many areas around the beginning of the common era, including the Far and Middle East, because of the introduction of the camel for transport. The camel was far better suited for travel through desert areas than oxen drawing carts; oxen are slow and require abundant water.

Sleds and their close relatives continued in use in the Americas until after the arrival of the Europeans, although wheeled toys are known from pre-Columbian Mexico as early as 300 ce. In the mountains of Mexico and the Andes, goods were transported by carriers or pack llamas traveling along trails unusable by wheeled vehicles.

Historians are not certain when wheels became part of mechanical devices; however, such use is older than in transport, since the potter's wheel preceded the appearance of wheeled vehicles by a thousand years. Eventually, of course, the wheel found many uses in cogs, gears, pulleys, and all sort of machines.

v. (of an aircraft) fly in a wide circle or curve: the plane wheeled and dived.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

A New Use for an Old Tire

From our Archives: Today's Highlights, May 11, 2009

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

A wheel may indicate completion of a project or the continuation of a familiar situation. A circle is also a spiritual sign of that which has no beginning and no end. Alternatively, the dreamer may be caught in a situation in which he or she feels they are going in a circle.

• Machinery and Mechanical Devices - wheel: solid disk or circular frame connected by spokes to central axis, used to transmit power or motion in machinery
• Body Parts and Accessories - wheel: circular frame at hub of axle to which tire attaches
• Parts of Ships, Sails, and Equipment - wheel: helm
• Ceramics and Glassmaking - wheel: potter’s wheel
• Baseball - wheel: (vb) to turn suddenly and throw, e.g. a pitcher wheeling to second base
• Mood and Intent - wheel: roll along easily and swiftly
• Shapes - wheel: round, circular form

For other uses of the term, see Wheel (disambiguation) and Wheels (disambiguation).

Look up wheel in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Three wheels on an antique tricycle

A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples are found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle, overcomes friction by facilitating motion by rolling. In order for wheels to rotate, a moment needs to be applied to the wheel about its axis, either by way of gravity, or by application of another external force. More generally the term is also used for other circular objects that rotate or turn, such as a ship's wheel, steering wheel and flywheel.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 Timeline 3 Mechanics and function 3.1 Stability 4 Alternatives 5 In semiotics 6 Gallery 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Etymology

The English word wheel comes from the Old English word hweol, hweogol, from Proto-Germanic *hwehwlan, *hwegwlan, from Proto-Indo-European *k^wek^wlo-,^[1] an extended form of the root *k^wel- "to revolve, move around". Cognates within Indo-European include Greek κύκλος kýklos, "wheel", Sanskrit chakra, Old Church Slavonic kolo, all meaning "circle" or "wheel",^[2]

The Latin word rota is from the Proto-Indo-European *rotā-, the extended o-grade form of the root *ret- meaning "to roll, revolve".^[3]

History

A depiction of an onager-drawn cart on the Sumerian "battle standard of Ur" (circa 2500 BC)

A figurine featuring the New World's independently invented wheel

Evidence of wheeled vehicles appears from the mid 4th millennium BC, near-simultaneously in Mesopotamia, the Northern Caucasus (Maykop culture) and Central Europe, so that the question of which culture originally invented the wheeled vehicle remains unresolved and under debate.

The earliest well-dated depiction of a wheeled vehicle (here a wagon—four wheels, two axles), is on the Bronocice pot, a ca. 3500–3350 BC clay pot excavated in a Funnelbeaker culture settlement in southern Poland.^[4]

The wheeled vehicle spread from the area of its first occurrence (Mesopotamia, Caucasus, Balkans, Central Europe) across Eurasia, reaching the Indus Valley by the 3rd millennium BC. During the 2nd millennium BC, the spoke-wheeled chariot spread at an increased pace, reaching both China and Scandinavia by 1200 BC. In China, the wheel was certainly present with the adoption of the chariot in ca. 1200 BC,^[5] although Barbieri-Low^[6] argues for earlier Chinese wheeled vehicles, circa 2000 BC.

Although they did not develop the wheel proper, the Olmec and certain other western hemisphere cultures seem to have approached it, as wheel-like worked stones have been found on objects identified as children's toys dating to about 1500 BC.^[7] It is thought that the primary obstacle to large-scale development of the wheel in the Western hemisphere was the absence of domesticated large animals which could be used to pull wheeled carriages. (The closest relative of cattle present in Americas in pre-Columbian times, the American Bison, is difficult to domesticate and was never domesticated by Native Americans; several horse species existed until about 12,000 years ago, but ultimately went extinct, likely due to overhunting by newly-arrived humans.^[8] The only large animal that was domesticated in the Western hemisphere, the llama, did not spread far beyond the Andes by the time of the arrival of Columbus.)

Early antiquity Nubians used wheels for spinning pottery and as waterwheels.^[9][10] It is thought that Nubian waterwheels may have been ox-driven^[11] It is also known that Nubians used horse-driven chariots imported from Egypt.^[12]

The invention of the wheel thus falls in the late Neolithic, and may be seen in conjunction with other technological advances that gave rise to the early Bronze Age. Note that this implies the passage of several wheel-less millennia even after the invention of agriculture and of pottery:

• 9500–6500 BC: Aceramic Neolithic
• 6500–4500 BC: Ceramic Neolithic (Halafian)
• ca. 4500 BC: invention of the potter's wheel, beginning of the Chalcolithic (Ubaid period)
• 4500–3300 BC: Chalcolithic, earliest wheeled vehicles, domestication of the horse
• 3300–2200 BC: Early Bronze Age
• 2200–1550 BC: Middle Bronze Age, invention of the spoked wheel and the chariot

Wide usage of the wheel was probably delayed because smooth roads were needed for wheels to be effective. Carrying goods on the back would have been the preferred method of transportation over surfaces that contained many obstacles. The lack of developed roads prevented wide adoption of the wheel for transportation until well into the 20th century in less developed areas.

Early wheels were simple wooden disks with a hole for the axle. Because of the structure of wood, a horizontal slice of a tree trunk is not suitable, as it does not have the structural strength to support weight without collapsing; rounded pieces of longitudinal boards are required. The oldest known example of a wooden wheel and its axle were found in 2003 at the Ljubljana Marshes some 20 km south of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. According to the radiocarbon dating, it is between 5,100 and 5,350 years old.^[13]

The spoked wheel was invented more recently, and allowed the construction of lighter and swifter vehicles. In the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley and Northwestern India, we find toy-cart wheels made of clay with spokes painted or in relief,^[14] and the symbol of the spoked wheel in the script of the seals,^[15] already in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. The earliest known examples of wooden spoked wheels are in the context of the Andronovo culture, dating to ca 2000 BC. Soon after this, horse cultures of the Caucasus region used horse-drawn spoked-wheel war chariots for the greater part of three centuries. They moved deep into the Greek peninsula where they joined with the existing Mediterranean peoples to give rise, eventually, to classical Greece after the breaking of Minoan dominance and consolidations led by pre-classical Sparta and Athens. Celtic chariots introduced an iron rim around the wheel in the 1st millennium BC. The spoked wheel was in continued use without major modification until the 1870s, when wire wheels and pneumatic tires were invented.^[16]

The invention of the wheel has also been important for technology in general, important applications including the water wheel, the cogwheel (see also antikythera mechanism), the spinning wheel, and the astrolabe or torquetum. More modern descendants of the wheel include the propeller, the jet engine, the flywheel (gyroscope) and the turbine.

Timeline

• 

  Bronze Age disk wheel as depicted on the Standard of Ur (ca. 2500 BC)

• 

  Classical Greek four-spoked chariot-wheel (as a Linear B glyph), in use from the 15th century BC. Hittite and Egyptian chariots tended to have six spokes, Iron Age Assyrian ones eight.

• 

  Bronze Age "wheel pendants" of the Urnfield culture (ca. 1200 BC), found in Zürich (Swiss National Museum)

• 

  An Early Iron Age spoked wheel from Choqa Zanbil (ca. 1000 BC, National Museum of Iran)

• 

  Wheel of the Etruscan chariot (ca. 530 BC)

• 

  The classic spoked wheel with hub and iron rim, in use from about 500 BC (Iron Age Europe) until the 20th century AD

• 

  Penny-farthing bicycle (1882)

• 

  Modern motorcycle alloy wheel with inflatable tire and disc brake

• 

  Michelin's "Tweel" airless tyre (2005)

Mechanics and function

The wheel is a device that enables efficient movement of an object across a surface where there is a force pressing the object to the surface. Common examples are a cart pulled by a horse, and the rollers on an aircraft flap mechanism.

Wheels are used in conjunction with axles, either the wheel turns on the axle, or the axle turns in the object body. The mechanics are the same in either case.

The low resistance to motion (compared to dragging) is explained as follows (refer to friction):

• the normal force at the sliding interface is the same.
• the sliding distance is reduced for a given distance of travel.
• the coefficient of friction at the interface is usually lower.

Bearings are used to help reduce friction at the interface. In the simplest and oldest case the bearing is just a round hole through which the axle passes (a "plain bearing").

Example:

• If a 100 kg object is dragged for 10 m along a surface with the coefficient of friction μ = 0.5, the normal force is 981 N and the work done (required energy) is (work=force x distance) 981 × 0.5 × 10 = 4905 joules.
• Now give the object 4 wheels. The normal force between the 4 wheels and axles is the same (in total) 981 N. Assume, for wood, μ = 0.25, and say the wheel diameter is 1000 mm and axle diameter is 50 mm. So while the object still moves 10 m the sliding frictional surfaces only slide over each other a distance of 0.5 m. The work done is 981 × 0.25 × 0.5 = 123 joules; the friction is reduced to 1/40 of that of dragging.

Additional energy is lost from the wheel-to-road interface. This is termed rolling resistance which is predominantly a deformation loss.

A wheel can also offer advantages in traversing irregular surfaces if the wheel radius is sufficiently large compared to the irregularities.

The wheel alone is not a machine, but when attached to an axle in conjunction with bearing, it forms the wheel and axle, one of the simple machines. A driven wheel is an example of a wheel and axle. Note that wheels pre-date driven wheels by about 6000 years.

Stability

Static stability of a wheeled vehicle

For unarticulated wheels, climbing obstacles will cause the body of the vehicle to rotate. If the rotation angle is too high, the vehicle will become statically unstable and tip over. At high speeds, a vehicle can become dynamically unstable, able to be tipped over by an obstacle smaller than its static stability limit. Without articulation, this can be an impossible position from which to recover.

For front-to-back stability, the maximum height of an obstacle which an unarticulated wheeled vehicle can climb is a function of the wheelbase and the horizontal and vertical position of the center of mass (CM).

The critical angle is the angle at which the center of mass of the vehicle begins to pass outside of the contact points of the wheels. Past the critical angle, the reaction forces at the wheels can no longer counteract the moment created by the vehicle's weight, and the vehicle will tip over. At the critical angle, the vehicle is marginally stable. The critical angle θ_crit can be found by solving the equation:

where

x_cm is the horizontal distance (on level terrain) of the center of mass from the lower axle; and

y_cm is the vertical distance (on level terrain) of the center of mass from lower axle.

The maximum height h of an obstacle can thus be found by the equation:

where w is the wheelbase.

In the Unicode computer standard, the Dharmacakra is called the "Wheel of Dharma" and found in the eight-spoked form. It is represented as U+2638 (☸)

Alternatives

While wheels are very widely used for ground transport, there are alternatives, some of which are suitable for terrain where wheels are ineffective. Alternative methods for ground transport without wheels (wheel-less transport) include:

• Being raised by electromagnetic energy (maglev train and other vehicles)
• Dragging with runners (sled) or without (travois)
• Being raised by air pressure (hovercraft)
• Riding an animal such as a horse
• Human powered:
  • Walking on one's own legs
  • Being carried (litter/sedan chair or stretcher)
• A walking machine
• Caterpillar tracks (although it is still operated by wheels)
• Pedrail wheels, using aspects of both wheel and caterpillar track
• Spheres, as used by Dyson vacuum cleaners and hamster balls

In semiotics

The Romani flag

The flag of Mahl Kshatriyas

The wheel has also become a strong cultural and spiritual metaphor for a cycle or regular repetition (see chakra, reincarnation, Yin and Yang among others). As such and because of the difficult terrain, wheeled vehicles were forbidden in old Tibet.

The winged wheel is a symbol of progress, seen in many contexts including the coat of arms of Panama and the logo of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

The introduction of spoked (chariot) wheels in the Middle Bronze Age appear to have carried somewhat of a prestige. The sun cross appears to have a significance in Bronze Age religion, replacing the earlier concept of a Solar barge with the more "modern" and technologically advanced solar chariot.

The wheel is also the prominent figure on the flag of India. The wheel in this case represents law (dharma). It also appears in the flag of the Romani people, hinting to their nomadic history and their Indian origins.

Gallery

• 

  A driving wheel on a steam locomotive

• 

  0 Series Shinkansen wheel

• 

  A pair of wheels on a cart

• 

  An automobile wheel (1980's)

• 

  Training wheels are used to help the learner cope with instability of the two-wheel vehicle at low speeds.

• 

  Flanged railway wheel

See also

Alloy wheel Artillery wheel Axle Bicycle wheel Big wheel Breaking wheel, a form of torture Caster cd[clarification needed] Color wheel Pressed Steel wheel Driving wheel Ferris wheel The Horse, The Wheel and Language (book) Hubless wheel Magnetic levitation Mansell wheel Mecanum wheel Omni wheel

Reinventing the wheel Rim Rolling resistance, r. friction, r. drag Rotating locomotion in living systems Ship's wheel Simple machine Square wheel Steering wheel Terrestrial locomotion in animals: Rolling Tire Tweel Wagon-wheel effect Wheelbarrow Wheel and axle Wheel sizing Wire wheels Wheel of Fortune Wheelset (rail transport)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wheels

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Automobile wheels

1. ^ "wheel". Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=wheel. 
2. ^ kwel-1. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
3. ^ ret- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
4. ^ Anthony, David A. (2007). The horse, the wheel, and language: how Bronze-Age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. p. 67. ISBN 0-691-05887-3. 
5. ^ Dyer, Gwynne, War: the new edition, p. 159: Vintage Canada Edition, Randomhouse of Canada, Toronto, ON
6. ^ Barbieri-Low, Anthony , Wheeled Vehicles in the Chinese Bronze Age (c. 2000-741 B.C.), Sino-Platonic Papers, February 2000
7. ^ Ekholm, Gordon F (1945). "Wheeled Toys in Mexico". American Antiquity 11. 
8. ^ Singer, Ben (May 2005). A brief history of the horse in America. Canadian Geographic Magazine. http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/Magazine/ma05/indepth/#cnd. 
9. ^ CRAFTS; Uncovering Treasures of Ancient Nubia; New York Times
10. ^ Ancient Sudan: (aka Kush & Nubia) City of Meroe (4th B.C. to 325 A.D.)
11. ^ What the Nubians Ate
12. ^ The Cambridge History of Africa
13. ^ Alexander Gasser (March 2003). "World's Oldest Wheel Found in Slovenia". Government Communication Office of the Republic of Slovenia. http://www.ukom.gov.si/en/media_relations/background_information/culture/worlds_oldest_wheel_found_in_slovenia/. Retrieved 19 August 2010. 
14. ^ Ghosh, A. (1989). An Encyclopedia of Indian Archaeology. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. p.337; Rao, L.S. (2005-06). The Harappan Spoked Wheels Rattled Down the Streets of Bhirrana, District Fatehabad, Haryana. “Puratattva” 36. pp.59-67.
15. ^ See e.g. http://www.harappa.com/indus/90.html and http://www.harappa.com/indus/27.html
16. ^ bookrags.com – Wheel and axle

v d e Locomotive running and valve gear Valve gear types Allan Baker Bagnall-Price Baguley Bulleid Caprotti Gooch Gresley Joy Kuhn slide Lentz Southern Stephenson Walschaerts Bogie types Bissel truck Blomberg B Jacobs bogie Krauss-Helmholtz bogie Pony truck Radial steering truck Schwartzkopff-Eckhardt II bogie Other running gear elements Adams axle Beugniot lever Coupled wheel Driving wheel Gölsdorf axle Klien-Lindner axle Leading wheel Luttermöller axle Radial axle Trailing wheel

External links

• The Oldest Wooden Wheel. Virtual exhibition. City Museum of Ljubljana. Accessed 31 January 2012.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - hjul, rat, ror, spinderok, pottemagerhjul, svingning, drejning
v. tr. - køre, trille, lade svinge, kredse, rulle, cykle
v. intr. - cykle, køre, kredse

idioms:

• at the wheel    ved rattet
• big wheel    stor kanon
• on wheels    på hjul, levering
• wheel and deal    være om sig, handle på egen hånd, bruge smarte metoder
• wheel clamp    hjullås
• wheel of fortune    lykkehjul
• wheels within wheels    med lodder og trisser, en kompliceret affære

Nederlands (Dutch)
wiel, rad, stuur, fiets, zwenken, rijden, iets op wielen duwen

Français (French)
n. - roue, roulette, volant, (Naut) (roue) d'un gouvernail, rouage (d'un mécanisme), (fig) rouage, (Hist) roue, (Jeux) roue (à la roulette), bagnole (npl), voiture (npl)
v. tr. - pousser (chariot, poussette)
v. intr. - tournoyer (oiseau), faire demi-tour, braquer fortement (voiture), virer de bord (bateau)

idioms:

• at the wheel    au volant
• big wheel    la grande roue
• on wheels    sur roues
• wheel and deal    magouiller
• wheel clamp    sabot de Denver
• wheel of fortune    roue de la fortune
• wheels within wheels    être plus compliqué que cela n'y paraît

Deutsch (German)
n. - Rad, Steuerrad, Lenkrad, Kreisbewegung, Refrain, (Slang) Auto
v. - schwenken, rollen, kreisen, kehrtmachen, wenden

idioms:

• at the wheel    am Steuer, am Ruder
• big wheel    Riesenrad
• on wheels    auf Rädern, (fig) schnell
• wheel and deal    mauscheln
• wheel clamp    Parkkralle
• wheel of fortune    Glücksrad
• wheels within wheels    komplizierter Mechanismus, verwickelte od. verborgene Sache

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - τροχός, ρόδα, πηδάλιο, τιμόνι, περιστροφή, τροχός βασανιστηρίων, (καθομ.) βολάν, (πληθ.) (καθομ.) μηχανισμοί, μεταφορικό μέσο
v. - κυλώ, τσουλώ, σπρώχνω (καροτσάκι), περιστρέφω/-ομαι, (στριφο)γυρίζω

idioms:

• at the wheel    στο τιμόνι
• big wheel    μεγαλουσιάνος, επιφανής
• on wheels    ομαλά, χωρίς πρόβλημα
• wheel and deal    μηχανορραφώ, δολοπλοκώ
• wheel clamp    δαγκάνα (για παράνομα σταθμευμένο αυτοκίνητο)
• wheel of fortune    ο τροχός της τύχης
• wheels within wheels    περίπλοκες αλληλεξαρτήσεις

Italiano (Italian)
spingere, girare, tirare, trasportare, ruotare, andare in bicicletta, pedalare, andare su ruote, ruota, rotella, volante

idioms:

• at the wheel    al volante
• on (oiled) wheels    su rotelle, scorrevolmente
• wheel and deal    combinar truffe
• wheel clamp    perno
• wheel of fortune    ruota della fortuna
• wheels within wheels    pasticcio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - roda (f), volante (m), giro (m)
v. - rodar, mover em forma circular

idioms:

• at the wheel    no volante
• big wheel    grande roda
• on (oiled) wheels    engrenagens (com óleo)
• wheel and deal    ação inescrupulosa (f)
• wheel clamp    tamanco
• wheel of fortune    roda da fortuna (f)
• wheels within wheels    bastante complicado

Русский (Russian)
колесо, рулевое колесо, кружение, рулетка, важное лицо, сеть театров/уве- селительных заведений, припев, катить, катиться, вертеться, вертеть, полностью изменить свою позицию, ехать на велосипеде

idioms:

• at the wheel    быть за рулем, стоять во главе
• big wheel    "большая шишка"
• on (oiled) wheels    "как по маслу"
• wheel and deal    заправлять чем-л., обделывать делишки
• wheel clamp    колодка, одеваемая на колесо неправильно припаркованного автомобиля
• wheel of fortune    колесо фортуны
• wheels within wheels    сложное устройство, секретные службы

Español (Spanish)
n. - rueda, timón, volante, ruleta, rodillo, rodaje, engranaje
v. tr. - hacer rodar, mover o llevar sobre ruedas, hacer girar, proveer de ruedas
v. intr. - girar, rodar, moverse sobre ruedas, montar bicicleta

idioms:

• at the wheel    al volante, al timón
• big wheel    pieza importante (persona importante en una organización)
• on wheels    sobre ruedas
• wheel and deal    trapichear, andar en tejemanejes
• wheel clamp    cepo para vehículos
• wheel of fortune    la rueda de la fortuna
• wheels within wheels    asunto complicadísimo, maquinaria intrincada, fuerzas esotéricas

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - hjul, trissa, bilratt, skiva, cykel, rotation
v. - rulla, köra, skjuta, snurra, rotera, kretsa, cykla

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
轮子, 轮, 车轮, 旋转, 转动, 装以车轮, 盘旋, 转弯

idioms:

• at the wheel    在驾驶, 控制, 掌管
• big wheel    重要人物, 具有影响力的人
• on wheels    顺利, 用车运...
• wheel and deal    独立行动, 做负责人
• wheel clamp    车辆固定夹
• wheel of fortune    抓阄转轮
• wheels within wheels    复杂的结构

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 輪子, 輪, 車輪
v. tr. - 旋轉, 轉動, 裝以車輪
v. intr. - 旋轉, 盤旋, 轉彎

idioms:

• at the wheel    在駕駛, 控制, 掌管
• big wheel    重要人物, 具有影響力的人
• on wheels    順利, 用車運...
• wheel and deal    獨立行動, 做負責人
• wheel clamp    車輛固定夾
• wheel of fortune    抓鬮轉輪
• wheels within wheels    複雜的結構

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 수레바퀴, 물레바퀴, (자동차의) 핸들
v. tr. - 수레로 나르다, ~에 바퀴를 달다, 운전하다
v. intr. - 선회하다, 방향을 바꾸다, 의견의 방향을 전환하다

idioms:

• at the wheel    키를 잡다, 지배력을 갖다
• big wheel    세력가, 거물

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 車輪, ハンドル, 舵輪, 回転, ろくろ, 自転車
v. - 動かす, 車で運ぶ, 自転車に乗る, 向きを変える, 旋回する

idioms:

• at the wheel    運転して, 支配して
• on (oiled) wheels    軌道にのる
• potter's wheel    ろくろ
• spinning wheel    糸車
• wheel and deal    手練手管を尽くす
• wheel clamp    駐車違反車両への輪留
• wheel of fortune    運命の車, 回転円板式賭博器, 回転抽選器
• wheels within wheels    複雑な動機

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) عجله, دولاب, دراجه, طارة الدفه, دولاب التعذيب (فعل) يدور, يدير, يبرم, يدحرج, يتدحرج‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮גלגל, אופן, הגה, גלגל ההגה, סיבוב (על ציר), גלגל עינויים, שורות קצרות המסיימות בית-שיר‬
v. tr. - ‮דחף, גרר (עגלה), הסיע‬
v. intr. - ‮פנה, התגלגל, חג, הסתובב במעגל‬

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