wheel horse
Americannoun
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Also called wheeler. a horse, or one of the horses, harnessed behind others and nearest the front wheels of a vehicle.
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Chiefly South Atlantic States. the left-hand horse of a pair hitched to a wagon or plow.
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Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. a reliable, diligent, and strong worker.
noun
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another word for wheeler
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a person who works steadily or hard
Etymology
Origin of wheel horse
First recorded in 1700–10
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.
“It’s a new economy and a new way of life, and the origins are the invention of the wheel, horse riding, and dairying.”
From Science Magazine ● Sep. 15, 2021
Not so rapid was the progress of FCC's monopoly-investigating committee, first presided over by Chairman McNinch, later by fat-jowled, cautious Thaddeus Harold Brown, Republican wheel horse of the Commission.
From Time Magazine Archive
Then Sir Austen faded into the Conservative Party's greatest wheel horse, wearing his father's monocle, not the orchid.
From Time Magazine Archive
Last week, with Brooklyn trying desperately to overhaul the front-running St. Louis Cardinals, Newcombe was wheel horse of the Dodger staff.
From Time Magazine Archive
Jezebel, who had come up leading the big wheel horse, said significantly, “Somethin’ stronger, if you like.”
From The Fighting Shepherdess by Lockhart, Caroline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
