big wheel
Americannoun
noun
-
another name for a Ferris wheel
-
informal an important person
Etymology
Origin of big wheel
First recorded in 1905–10
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.
Sajak will not be its hub forever, but the whole point of the big wheel is to spin and spin and spin while staying in place.
From New York Times • Jun. 13, 2023
Visitors also enjoyed fairground rides, a big wheel, and live music from DJs performing in Molly's Bar on the festival site.
From BBC • Jul. 30, 2022
Paramedics loaded the injured hiker into a big wheel stretcher and safely got him down the rest of the trail.
From Washington Times • Feb. 7, 2021
Kives’s road to becoming a big wheel in the Democratic money machine began in June 2001, when he was an undergraduate at Stanford.
From The Guardian • Mar. 3, 2020
In the first week of June 1893 Ferris’s men began prying the last timbers and planks from the falsework that had encased and supported the big wheel during its assembly.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
