[hweel, weel] 
| 1. | a circular frame or disk arranged to revolve on an axis, as on or in vehicles or machinery. |
| 2. | any machine, apparatus, instrument, etc., shaped like this or having a circular frame, disk, or revolving drum as an essential feature: a potter's wheel; roulette wheel; spinning wheel. |
| 3. | steering wheel. |
| 4. | Nautical.
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| 5. | Informal. a bicycle. |
| 6. | a round object, decoration, etc.: a wheel of cheese; a design of red wheels and blue squares. |
| 7. | an old instrument of torture in the form of a circular frame on which the victim was stretched until disjointed. |
| 8. | a circular firework that revolves rapidly while burning; pinwheel. |
| 9. | a rotating instrument that Fortune is represented as turning in order to bring about changes or reverses in human affairs. |
| 10. | wheels,
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| 11. | a cycle, recurring action, or steady progression: the wheel of days and nights. |
| 12. | a wheeling or circular movement: the intricate wheels of the folk dances. |
| 13. | (formerly) a movement of troops, ships, etc., drawn up in line, as if turning on a pivot. |
| 14. | Informal. someone active and influential, as in business, politics, etc.; an important person: a big wheel. |
| 15. | to cause to turn, rotate, or revolve, as on an axis. |
| 16. | to perform (a movement) in a circular or curving direction. |
| 17. | to move, roll, or convey on wheels, casters, etc.: The servants wheel the tables out. |
| 18. | to provide (a vehicle, machine, etc.) with wheels. |
| 19. | to turn on or as on an axis or about a center; revolve, rotate, or pivot. |
| 20. | to move in a circular or curving course: pigeons wheeling above. |
| 21. | to turn so as to face in a different direction (often fol. by about or around): He wheeled about and faced his opponent squarely. |
| 22. | to change one's opinion or procedure (often fol. by about or around): He wheeled around and argued for the opposition. |
| 23. | to roll along on or as on wheels; travel along smoothly: The car wheeled along the highway. |
| 24. | British Military. to turn: Right wheel! |
| 25. | at the wheel,
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| 26. | hell on wheels. hell (def. 19). |
| 27. | spin one's wheels, Informal. to expend or waste effort to no avail: He spun his wheels on that project for two years. |
| 28. | wheel and deal, Informal. to operate dynamically for one's own profit or benefit. |
| 29. | wheels within wheels, an involved interaction of motives or agencies operating to produce the final result: Government agencies are a study of wheels within wheels. |
wheel
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wheels within wheels
Complex interacting processes, agents, or motives, as in It's difficult to find out just which government agency is responsible; there are wheels within wheels. This term, which now evokes the complex interaction of gears, may derive from a scene in the Bible (Ezekiel 1:16): "Their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel." [c. 1600]