2for controlling a vehicle 用于控制车船等TTDRIVE [usually singular] the round piece of equipment that you turn to make a car, ship etc move in a particular direction 〔汽车、轮船等的〕方向盘,转向盘
at/behind the wheel (=driving a car) 在驾驶汽车
The driver must have fallen asleep at the wheel.
司机一定是在开车时睡着了。
Shall I take the wheel (=drive instead of someone else)?
5the wheel of fortune/life/time etcthe way in which things change in life, or in which the same things seem to happen again after a period of time 命运之轮/生命之轮/时间的车轮等
We are powerless to stop the wheel of history.
我们无力阻挡历史的车轮。
Examples from the Corpus
the wheel of fortune/life/time etc• And, as the wheel of fortunecontinues on its inexorablecycle, values are likely to start going up again soon.• Then the wheel of fortune turned.
wheels within wheels• For there existedwheels within wheels within wheels.• The wheels within wheels began to turn, and efforts were made to have the sentencereduced.• Whether it flows as sand or turns on wheels within wheels, time escapes irretrievably, while we watch.
8set the wheels in motion/set the wheels turningto make a particularprocessstart 让〔某过程〕运作起来
It only took one phone call to set the wheels in motion.
一个电话就促成了这件事的发生。
n9the wheels come off somethingused to say that something suddenly stops being successful
Why did the wheels come off his campaign?
10a/the big wheel informal an important person 重要人物
He became a big wheel in the East India Company.
他成了东印度公司的要人。
Examples from the Corpus
a/the big wheel• Back down the beach, the Big Wheel was turning and there were even queueswaiting to get on.• You will also catch a glimpse of the Big Wheel in the famousPeterfairground.• Ahead of them, they could see the Big Wheel turning against a skystreaked with red and grey.• They came to steala Big Wheeltricycle.• He was sitting in the little hut where you bought your tickets to get on to the Big Wheel.• Because this was the contraption's trial run, it was to be driven manually by turning the big wheel.• He was a big wheel in Bucharest Securitate, Mr Manescu.• The boys then allegedly put the infant on another bed and fled with the Big Wheel, police said.
at/behind the wheel• When you are behind the wheel, your most important responsibility is safe driving.• With Chancellorat the wheel, they had left enfamille to do the shopping.• After thirty minutes I went outside, opened the door of the Falcon and sat down behind the wheel.• He decided to wait, watching as the driverswitched off the engine and slid from behind the wheel.• Jacktipped him five and got behind the wheel of his Lincoln, which he was buying on time.• Sweating with fear, Lepine dashed along the verandah and flung himself behind the wheel of the Citron.• Elizabeth was slaughteredat the wheel of her boyfriend's four-wheel-drive truck as she desperately tried to escape.
wheel and deal• In their case, both ran as outsiders, a trickystrategy in a family known for its insiderwheeling and dealing.• There was more wheeling and dealingbehind the cameras than in front of them.• She had to concede that Adrienne could wheel and deal in more ways than one.• What makes this cautionarytale so instructive is not just the details of back-room wheeling and dealing that relate specifically to Chicago.
5wheel somebody/something ↔ in/outphrasal verbphr v informalSHOW/LET somebody SEE somethingto publicly produce someone or something and use them to help you achieve something 〔为帮助自己达成某事而〕请出〔某人〕,推出〔某物〕
Then the prosecution wheeled in a surprise witness.
然后控方请出了一名意想不到的证人。
The government wheeled out the same old arguments to support its election campaign.
政府又搬出老一套论调来支持其选举活动。
Examples from the Corpus
wheel in/out• Then he wheeled his wife out.• Kath snappedinstructions to everyone, and Amy wheeled Mr Thompson out and took him to the interview-room.• The wheels started turning in his head.• Many times when we were set up in our wagonwheels out in the bush somewhere, we would receive mortar fire.• The ride was rough, the wheel jerking out of my grip.• Eleanor Shergold was at the wheel with Snappy in the back.• They wheeled us on in the background like a couple of fossils.• But were the large hydraulicwheels then in use capable of working powerful enough pumps, or relays of pumps?