pinwheel

or pin wheel

[ pin-hweel, -weel ]

/ ˈpɪnˌʰwil, -ˌwil /

noun

a child's toy consisting of a wheel or leaflike curls of paper or plastic loosely attached by a pin to a stick, designed to revolve when blown by or as by the wind.

Also called catherine wheel. a kind of firework supported on a pin which, when ignited, revolves rapidly and gives a dazzling display of light.

a wheel having pins at right angles to its rim for engaging the teeth of a gear.

verb (used without object)

to revolve rapidly like a pinwheel: Images of the past pinwheeled through his mind.

QUIZZES

Fend Off Sciolism With This Word Of The Day Quiz

Are you the Cinderella of this week’s quiz? Test your memory on the words and definitions from March 23–29.

Question 1 of 7

schlep

to say or do hesitantly or awkwardly

to fold or wind around something

to carry; lug

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of pinwheel

First recorded in 1695–1705; pin + wheel

Words nearby pinwheel

pintsch gas, pintubi, pinturicchio, pinup, pinwale, pinwheel, pinwheel escapement, pinwheeling, pinwork, pinworm, pinx.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for pinwheel

When I told Kink he sputtered like a pinwheel, and every evening thereafter we two went up to her house and sat with her.
The Crimson Gardenia and Other Tales of Adventure|Rex Beach
Simeon spun around, as he said afterwards, "like a young one's pinwheel."
The Depot Master|Joseph C. Lincoln
One side of the street followed along at his elbow—a slant of pinwheel lights.
Gargoyles|Ben Hecht
Persis went through the air like a pinwheel, and those who witnessed the affair gave up her and the horse for dead.
What Will People Say?|Rupert Hughes

Little by little the movement became faster and faster until they were spinning around like a pinwheel in a brisk breeze.
The Magic Speech Flower|Melvin Hix

British Dictionary definitions for pinwheel

pinwheel

/ (ˈpɪnˌwiːl) /

noun

another name for Catherine wheel (def. 1)

a cogwheel whose teeth are formed by small pins projecting either axially or radially from the rim of the wheel

US and Canadian a toy consisting of plastic or paper vanes attached to a stick in such a manner that they revolve like the sails of a windmillAlso called (in Britain and certain other countries): windmill, whirligig

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