pinwheeling

[pin-hwee-ling, -wee-]

noun U.S. Nautical.

the act of turning a multiple-screw ship within a minimum radius by having some engines going forward and others going in reverse.

Origin of pinwheeling

pinwheel + -ing¹

pinwheel

or pin wheel

[pin-hweel, -weel]

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.

Origin of pinwheel

First recorded in 1695–1705; pin + wheel

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for pinwheeling

Historical Examples of pinwheeling

But the trouble was unknown, and they might end up rifling or pinwheeling if they didn't let bad enough alone.
Tight Squeeze
Dean Charles Ing
The concussion hit Johnny like a fist, pinwheeling him backwards in the rocker against the wall of the house.
Make Mine Homogenized
Rick Raphael

British Dictionary definitions for pinwheeling

pinwheel

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

Word Origin and History for pinwheeling

pinwheel

also pin-wheel, 1690s, "a wheel in the striking train of a clock in which pins are fixed to lift the hammer," from pin (n.) + wheel (n.). Fireworks sense is from 1869.