paddle wheel

American  

noun

1. a wheel for propelling a ship, having a number of paddles entering the water more or less perpendicularly.

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paddle wheel British  

noun

1. a large wheel fitted with paddles, turned by an engine to propel a vessel on the water

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Other Word Forms

• paddle-wheel
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of paddle wheel

First recorded in 1675–85

Example Sentences

The gentle current, kicked up by a creaky paddle wheel, terrifies nobody.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 29, 2019

Later, people on Malaske’s boat saw a duck boat passenger “hanging on for dear life” to the paddle wheel of the Belle, he said.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 20, 2018

The lake’s water level is so low this year that a paddle wheel tour boat ran aground on a sandbar Aug. 4.

From Washington Times • Aug. 19, 2014

For the purposes of this tale, just accept that it is a very large boat and that fish from Minnesota to Louisiana warn their grandchildren about the formidable red paddle wheel on the back.

From New York Times • Jun. 1, 2012

In the suffocating cabin, maddened by the vibration of the metal plates and the unbearable stench of the mud stirred up by the paddle wheel, Meme lost track of the days.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez