paddle wheel

American

noun

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

paddle wheel British

noun

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

paddle-wheel adjective

Etymology

Origin of paddle wheel

First recorded in 1675–85

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.

Each Swan Boat weighs 3 tons fully laden and is powered by the driver using a foot-propelled paddle wheel.

From Washington Times

The USS Saginaw was a small Navy steamer with sails and two side paddle wheels.

From Washington Post

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

From The New Yorker

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 Literature

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023