pinwheel

or pin wheel

[ pin-hweel, -weel ]

/ ˈpɪnˌʰwil, -ˌwil /

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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.

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Origin of pinwheel

First recorded in 1695–1705; pin + wheel

Words nearby pinwheel

Pintubi, pin tuck, Pinturicchio, pinup, pinwale, pinwheel, pinwheel escapement, pinwheeling, pinwork, pinworm, pin wrench

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pinwheel in a sentence

This premade Easter basket features a massive range of kid-friendly toys and treats, including caramel popcorn, a Kit Kat bar, Jelly Belly candies, Peeps, several chocolate bunnies, a jump rope, crayons, and pinwheels, bubbles, and two plush toys.
The Best Premade Easter Baskets To Make Your Life Easier|Korin Miller|April 4, 2022|The Daily Beast
Rhubarb Roulade This powdered sugar-dusted pink-and-white pinwheel is a classically beautiful Gourmet dessert.
A Sweet Send-off for Gourmet|Cookstr.com|October 14, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Why, he began turning somersaults so fast that he looked just like a pinwheel going around, or an automobile tire whizzing along.
Uncle Wiggily's Adventures|Howard R. Garis
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

A pinwheel had exploded, sending a shower of sparks in every direction.
Holiday Stories for Young People|Various
Just as they entered a pinwheel, lying flat, began to fizz, sending a shower of sparks across the other pieces.
The Rover Boys on Treasure Isle|Edward Stratemeyer (AKA Arthur M. Winfield)
If this is a gesture, all I can say is, it is a pinwheel; and yet Broun writes only about things he knows about.
When Winter Comes to Main Street|Grant Martin Overton

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