wheel horse
Americannoun
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Also called wheeler. a horse, or one of the horses, harnessed behind others and nearest the front wheels of a vehicle.
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Chiefly South Atlantic States. the left-hand horse of a pair hitched to a wagon or plow.
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Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. a reliable, diligent, and strong worker.
noun
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another word for wheeler
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a person who works steadily or hard
Etymology
Origin of wheel horse
First recorded in 1700–10
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“It’s a new economy and a new way of life, and the origins are the invention of the wheel, horse riding, and dairying.”
From Science Magazine ● Sep. 15, 2021
He always reported for votes on crucial measures, has been a loyal wheel horse day in, day out, hardworking, steady, easy to know and easy to like.
From Time Magazine Archive
He is Zenko Suzuki, 69, a little-known party wheel horse who unexpectedly emerged last week as the compromise candidate of the Liberal Democrats' feuding factions.
From Time Magazine Archive
Representative Henry Bascom Steagall of Alabama, smalltown lawyer and Democratic wheel horse since 1902.
From Time Magazine Archive
A man hung on the bit of each wheel horse while another grasped the bits of the lead team as Waddles made one last hasty trip inside.
From The Settling of the Sage by Evarts, Hal G. (Hal George)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
