Catherine wheel

American  

noun

1. a firework that revolves on a pin, making a wheel of fire or sparks; pinwheel.

2. wheel window.

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Catherine wheel British  

noun

1. Also called: pinwheel.  a type of firework consisting of a powder-filled spiral tube, mounted with a pin through its centre. When lit it rotates quickly, producing a display of sparks and coloured flame

2. a circular window having ribs radiating from the centre

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Etymology

Origin of Catherine wheel

1175–1225; Middle English; named after St. Catherine of Alexandria, from wheel used to torture her

Example Sentences

Set to Carl Orff’s dramatic score, the production includes a giant moving Catherine wheel and a live chorus seated on a floating platform above the stage.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 7, 2022

And the late conservative justice Antonin Scalia will spin like a Catherine wheel in the grave.

From The Guardian • Oct. 29, 2016

LiVolsi pointed to what looked like a whipping Catherine wheel, with spikes that spurted powder into paper packets, 50 blurring past in every second.

From New York Times • Jan. 1, 2014

The first Catherine wheel will be lit in roughly 100 days' time, 200 tops.

From The Guardian • Nov. 21, 2012

But the Catherine wheel, done at the last moment on one leg and then an amazing leap into the air backwards, again brings down the house.

From The Lost Girl by Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert)