(a) A solid disk or rigid circular ring connected to a hub by spokes and attached to an axle of a vehicle or movable structure to facilitate its locomotion, a wheel; also fig. and in fig. context; ?also [quot. a1393, 2nd], the rim or outer ring of such a wheel;—used in fig. context; (b) in cpds. and combs.: ~ barowe, q.v.; ~ bond, ?a metal wheel rim or reinforcing strip, felloe; ~ harwe, ?a harrow on wheels; ~ makere; ~ spore, the track made by a wheel; ~ timber, wood for making or repairing wheels; ~ wrighte [see whele-wright(e n. (a)]; cart ~, a cart wheel [see also cart n. 6.(a)]; also, ?as a measure of land: a carucate [quot. a1475(a1447]; gonne ~, one of the wheels on which a cannon is mounted; plough ~, a wheel at the front of a plow; (c) ?a wheeled cart; (d) a pictorial representation of a wheel; (e) in proverbs, prov. expressions, and conventional comparisons.

(a) A mechanical contrivance consisting of a wheel or employing a wheel as a principal constituent; a mill wheel, potter’s wheel, spinning wheel, etc.; also, a gear in a clockworks [quot. c1454]; ~ of belle, belle ~, an apparatus for ringing a hanging bell [see also belle n.(1) 8.(l)]; ~ of (draue) welle, drauinge (turninge) ~, etc., a mechanism for raising and lowering a well bucket, windlass, well pulley; ~ of milne, milne ~, the wheel that drives a water mill; ~ spinnere, ?one who spins thread on a spinning wheel; spinninge ~ [see also spinning(e ger. (b)]; (b) some sort of revolving gate; also, ?a hinge or pin permitting a door to move back and forth [1st quot.].

(a) A wheel designed to serve as an instrument or part of an instrument of torture; (b) a pictorial representation of such a wheel.

(a) A wheel as a symbol of mutability;—often associated with the goddess Fortuna; also fig. and in fig. context; ~ of aventure (fortune, quistrounes), blind (fals) ~, fortune (worldes) ~; ~ wrighte [see whele-wright(e n. (b)]; (b) the wheel used fig. to suggest cyclical recurrence, continual motion, etc.; a regular cycle, an endless repetition, a circular process; bisi (renninge) ~, (one’s) constant activity, the course of (one’s) life; (c) in ~, ?in (one’s) turn in a series.

A circular shape, pattern, form, or motion; specif. a circular diagram [quot. a1425, 1st]; a ripple on the surface of water [quot. c1450]; one of the celestial spheres, the firmament; the circular orbit of a heavenly body; also, a whirlwind [quot. a1500(c1340), 1st occurrence]; fig. an angel [quot. a1398]; ?the earthly sphere, the revolving world [quot. a1500(c1340), 2nd occurrence]; ~ cercle, one of a series of expanding ripples.

The word ‘whele’ in an etymological explanation of the name galile.

(a) In surnames; (b) in place names [see Smith PNElem. 1.272].