water wheel

See also: waterwheel

English

Alternative forms

Noun

water wheel (plural water wheels)

  1. A wheel, propelled by running or falling water, used to power machinery.
    Hyponyms: flutter wheel, millwheel, tub wheel
    Coordinate term: turbine
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 278:
      "Yes, yes, I'll tell you the road directly, it's it's straight on through the wood till you come to the big water-wheel!"
    • 2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist:
      Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.
  2. A wheel with buckets used to raise water.
    Coordinate term: Archimedes' screw

Synonyms

  • (wheel with buckets): noria

Translations

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