Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WHEAT-PLUM, n.

A sort of plum.

WHEE'DLE, v.i.

To flatter; to coax.

WHEEDLE, v.t. [Qu. Gr. γοντευω, or κωτιλλω.]

To flatter; to entice by soft words. To learn th' unlucky art of wheedling fools. – Dryden.

WHEE'DLED, pp.

Flattered; enticed; coaxed.

WHEE'DLING, n.

The act of flattering or enticing.

WHEE'DLING, ppr.

Flattering; enticing by soft words.

WHEEL, n. [Sax. hweol, hweohl, hweogl, hweogul; D. wiel; Sw. hiul. This seems to have Wg or Hg for its elements. See Syr. and Ar. No. 16, 17, Class Cg.]

1. A circular frame of wood, iron, or other metal, consisting of a nave or hub, into which are inserted spokes which sustain a rim or felly; the whole turning on an axis. The name is also given to a solid circular or round piece of wood or metal, which revolves on an axis. The wheel and axle constitute one of the mechanical powers.
2. A circular body. – Shak.
3. A carriage that moves on wheels. – Pope.
4. An instrument for torturing criminals; as, an examination made by the rack and the wheel. – Addison.
5. A machine for spinning thread of various kinds.
6. Rotation; revolution; turn; as, the vicissitude and wheel of things. – South.
7. A turning about; a compass. He throws his flight in many an airy wheel. – Milton.
8. In pottery, a round board turned by a lathe in a horizontal position, on which the clay is shaped by the hand.

WHEEL, v.i.

1. To turn on an axis. – Bentley.
2. To turn; to move round; as, a body of troops wheel to the right or left.
3. To fetch a compass. Then wheeling down the keep of heav'n he flies. – Pope.
4. To roll forward. Thunder / Must wheel on th' earth, devouring where it rolls. – Milton.

WHEEL, v.t.

1. To convey on wheels; as, to wheel a load of hay or wood.
2. To put into a rotary motion; to cause to turn round. – Milton.

WHEEL'-AN-IMAL, n.

A genus of animalcules, with arms for taking their prey, resembling wheels. – Cyc.

WHEEL-BAR-ROW, n. [wheel and barrow.]

A barrow moved on a single wheel.

WHEEL-BOAT, n. [wheel and boat.]

A boat with wheels, to be used either on water or upon inclined planes or railways.

WHEEL'-CAR-RIAGE, n. [wheel and carriage.]

A carriage moved on wheels.

WHEEL-ED, pp.

Conveyed on wheels; turned; rolled round.

WHEEL-ER, n.

A maker of wheels. [Obs.]

WHEEL'-FIRE, n. [wheel and fire.]

In chimistry, a fire which encompasses the crucible without touching it. – Cyc.

WHEEL-ING, n.

1. The act of conveying on wheels.
2. The act of passing on wheels, or convenience for passing on wheels. We say, it is good wheeling, or bad wheeling, according to the state of the roads.
3. A turning or circular movement of troops embodied.

WHEEL-ING, ppr.

Conveying on wheels or in a wheel carriage; turning.

WHEEL-SHAP-ED, a. [wheel and shape.]

In botany, rotate monopetalous, expanding into a flat border at top, with scarcely any tube; as, a wheel-shaped corol. – Smith.

WHEEL-WRIGHT, n. [wheel and wright.]

A man whose occupation is to make wheels and wheel-carriages, as carts and wagons.

WHEEL-Y, a.

Circular; suitable to rotation. – Philips.

WHEEZE, v.i. [Sax. hweosan; Arm. chueza; Sw. hes, hoarse; Dan. hvæser; Sw. hväsa, to hiss, to whiz; Dan. hvaes, a whistling; Wheeze, whiz, and probably whisper, are of one family, and accord with the root of the L. fistula.]

To breathe hard and with an audible sound, as persons affected with asthma. – Dryden. Swift.

WHEEZ-ING, ppr.

Breathing with difficulty and noise.

WHELK, n.

1. A wrinkle; inequality on the surface; protuberance; a pustule. [See Welk and Weal.]
2. A shell named the Buccinum undatum, or trumpet-shell univalvular, spiral and gibbous, with an oval aperture ending in a short canal or gutter. – Linnæus. Cyc.

WHELK'Y, a.

Protuberant; embossed; rounded. – Spenser.