freewheel

[free-hweel, -weel]

noun

1. a device in the transmission of a motor vehicle that automatically disengages the drive shaft whenever it begins to turn more rapidly than the engine.

2. a form of rear bicycle wheel that has a device freeing it from the driving mechanism, as when the pedals are stopped in coasting.

verb (used without object)

1. (of a vehicle or its operator) to coast with the wheels disengaged from the driving mechanism.

2. to move or function freely, independently, unconcernedly, or the like (often followed by about, through, around, etc.).

   The two friends freewheeled around the country after graduation.

freewheel

/ ˌfriːˈwiːl /

noun

1. a ratchet device in the rear hub of a bicycle wheel that permits the wheel to rotate freely while the pedals are stationary

2. a device in the transmission of some vehicles that automatically disengages the drive shaft when it rotates more rapidly than the engine shaft, so that the drive shaft can turn freely

verb

1. (intr) to coast in a vehicle or on a bicycle using the freewheel

Word History and Origins

Origin of freewheel¹

First recorded in 1895–1900; free + wheel

Example Sentences

I didn’t want to go, given L.A.’s freewheeling art territory compared with imperial Manhattan.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Other locals grumble that the construction has made Asir’s most beautiful areas off-limits, and that the focus on luxury will change the freewheeling character of the region.

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The freewheeling film is still beloved in the city—though Stewart hopes her current students haven’t seen it.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Yet they still let her be feral and freewheeling in developing her craft.

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Dubbing it “the Californian Ideology,” they argued that the “new faith” blended the “freewheeling spirit of the hippies with the entrepreneurial zeal of the yuppies.”

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• cruise 
• drift 
• sail 
• skate