wheelman

[weel-muhn, hweel-]

noun

plural

wheelmen 

1. Also wheelsman a helmsperson or steersperson.

2. a rider of a bicycle, tricycle, or the like.

3. Slang.

   1. a driver, especially a chauffeur.

      The mobster's wheelman was also his bodyguard.

   2. a person who drives the getaway car in a holdup or robbery.

Word History and Origins

Origin of wheelman¹

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65; wheel + -man

Example Sentences

When Kinch was young, he confided in a later recording, he was a “wheelman,” slang for getaway driver.

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He said Leasure was the wheelman for the killings outside the Sherman Oaks lounge and in the Highland Park beauty shop.

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Gray agrees to serve as a wheelman for a criminal syndicate — this time, it's a Zimbabwean family known as the Tongais — but only for as long as it takes to get his close friend and his business out of trouble.

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The former wheelman retired 18 years ago to run a luxury car service in New Orleans.

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“He was one heck of a wheelman.”

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Related Words

• pilot