a device in the transmission of a motor vehicle that automatically disengages the drive shaft whenever it begins to turn more rapidly than the engine.
2.
a form of rear bicycle wheel that has a device freeing it from the driving mechanism, as when the pedals are stopped in coasting.
verb (used without object)
3.
(of a vehicle or its operator) to coast with the wheels disengaged from the driving mechanism.
4.
to move or function freely, independently, unconcernedly, or the like (often followed by about, through, around, etc.): The two friends freewheeled around the country after graduation.
1903, from free + wheel; originally of bicycle wheels that turned even when not being pedaled, later from the name of a kind of automobile drive system that allowed cars to coast without being slowed by the engine. Fig. sense is from 1911.