The gasping charioteer beneath the wheel Of his own
car. --Dryden.
2. Any instrument having the form of, or chiefly consisting
of, a wheel. Specifically:
(a) A spinning wheel. See under {Spinning}.
(b) An instrument of torture formerly used.
His examination is like that which is made by
the rack and wheel. --Addison.
Note: This mode of torture is said to have been first
employed in Germany, in the fourteenth century. The
criminal was laid on a cart wheel with his legs and
arms extended, and his limbs in that posture were
fractured with an iron bar. In France, where its use
was restricted to the most atrocious crimes, the
criminal was first laid on a frame of wood in the form
of a St. Andrew's cross, with grooves cut transversely
in it above and below the knees and elbows, and the
executioner struck eight blows with an iron bar, so as
to break the limbs in those places, sometimes finishing
by two or three blows on the chest or stomach, which
usually put an end to the life of the criminal, and
were hence called coups-de-grace -- blows of mercy. The
criminal was then unbound, and laid on a small wheel,
with his face upward, and his arms and legs doubled
under him, there to expire, if he had survived the
previous treatment. --Brande.
(c) (Naut.) A circular frame having handles on the
periphery, and an axle which is so connected with the
tiller as to form a means of controlling the rudder
for the purpose of steering.
(d) (Pottery) A potter's wheel. See under {Potter}.
Then I went down to the potter's house, and,
behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. --Jer.
xviii. 3.
Turn, turn, my wheel! This earthen jar A touch
can make, a touch can mar. --Longfellow.
(e) (Pyrotechny) A firework which, while burning, is
caused to revolve on an axis by the reaction of the
escaping gases.
(f) (Poetry) The burden or refrain of a song.
Note: ``This meaning has a low degree of authority, but is
supposed from the context in the few cases where the
word is found.'' --Nares.
You must sing a-down a-down, An you call him
a-down-a. O, how the wheel becomes it! --Shak.
The moon carried about the earth always shows the
same face to us, not once wheeling upon her own
center. --Bentley.
2. To change direction, as if revolving upon an axis or
pivot; to turn; as, the troops wheeled to the right.
Being able to advance no further, they are in a fair
way to wheel about to the other extreme. --South.
3. To go round in a circuit; to fetch a compass.
Then wheeling down the steep of heaven he flies.
--Pope.
Thunder mixed with hail, Hail mixed with fire, must
rend the Egyptian sky, And wheel on the earth,
devouring where it rolls. --Milton.
2. To put into a rotatory motion; to cause to turn or
revolve; to cause to gyrate; to make or perform in a
circle. ``The beetle wheels her droning flight.'' --Gray.
Now heaven, in all her glory, shone, and rolled Her
motions, as the great first mover's hand First
wheeled their course. --Milton.