Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
wheelful en · ADJ · etymology 1
Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁-redup.
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-European *kʷekʷléh₂
Proto-Germanic *hweulō
Old English hwēol
Middle English whel
English wheel
Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁-
Proto-Indo-European *-nós
Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós
Proto-Germanic *fullaz
Proto-Germanic *-fullaz
Old English -ful
Middle English -ful
English -ful
English wheelful
From wheel + -ful.
Meanings
-
Full of, or bearing, wheels; wheeled.
The Wheelman for June has just reached us, and we can only say that it seems to be rolling all around the country, and that it is the most wheelful, as well as the wheeliest periodical we ever saw.
1883, Puck, volume 13, page 199:
Forms
wheelful en · NOUN · etymology 2
Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁-redup.
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-European *kʷekʷléh₂
Proto-Germanic *hweulō
Old English hwēol
Middle English whel
English wheel
Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁-
Proto-Indo-European *-nós
Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós
Proto-Germanic *fullaz
Proto-Germanic *-fullaz
Old English -ful
Middle English -ful
English -ful
English wheelful
From wheel + -ful. Compare handful.
Meanings
-
The amount a wheel can hold.
Trucks and cars flew past, slinging wheelfuls of heavy slush at me in brown sideways thumps, and I lived for the bus stops where I could shelter and warm my hands on the tea flask.
2016, Sarah Outen, Dare to Do: Taking on the planet by bike and boat:The external boundary is surface enough for communication between the organelles of a single cell with their minuscule volumes. But the surface of a wheel as large as a human foot could not provision the wheelful of organic matter within.
1983, Stephen Jay Gould, Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes:
Forms