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

Cook was elected county judge in Jefferson County in 1961 and during his term purchased a paddle wheel boat at a bankruptcy sale.

From Washington Times • Feb. 4, 2016

A native of Sweden, Mr. Ericsson moved to London and produced one innovation after another, including a screw propeller to replace the paddle wheel on the steam-powered warship.

From New York Times • Aug. 8, 2011

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