put a spoke in someone's wheel en · VERB
Meanings
-
To thwart or obstruct someone in the execution of some design.
The original branch was 5¾ miles long, from Llantrisant to Cowbridge only, but in 1889, the T.V.R. [Taff Vale Railway] obtained powers […] to continue the line for 6½ miles south to the coast at Aberthaw, ostensibly for the purpose of serving the important limestone works there, but one suspects other motives, including an understandable desire on the part of the T.V.R. to put a spoke in the wheel of the oncoming Barry Railway !
1951 December, T. B. Sands, “Some Railway Byways in the Vale of Glamorgan”, in Railway Magazine, page 838:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| put a spoke in someone's wheel | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| put a spoke in someone's wheel | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| have a spoke in someone's cart | alternative, obsolete | lexicographic | |
| puts a spoke in someone's wheel | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| putting a spoke in someone's wheel | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic |
Relateds
throw a spanner in the works · throw a wrench in the works
Synonyms
settle someone's hash · fix someone's flint
Translations (7)
cy torri ar chwarae rhywun (to thwart a design) · cs házet klacky pod nohy (to thwart a design) · vi thọc gậy bánh xe (to thwart a design) · da sætte en kæp i hjulet (to thwart a design) · de einen Strich durch die Rechnung machen (to thwart a design) · nl stokken in de wielen steken (to thwart a design) · ru вставлять палки в колёса (to thwart a design)