wheelwork

American  

[hweel-wurk, weel-] / ˈʰwilˌwɜrk, ˈwil- /

noun

1. a train of gears, as in a timepiece.

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wheelwork British  

/ ˈwiːlˌwɜːk /

noun

1. an arrangement of wheels in a machine, esp a train of gears

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Etymology

Origin of wheelwork

First recorded in 1660–70; wheel + work

Example Sentences

There is a train of wheelwork enclosed with it in the case.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 418 Volume 17, New Series, January 3, 1852 by Chambers, Robert

Beside the paternal face, before which, with most children, the whole wheelwork of a free behavior grates and sticks, a third cause made him disconcerted and witty,–namely, that he was after something.

From Hesperus or Forty-Five Dog-Post-Days Vol. I. A Biography by Jean Paul

In the first place, the work of the Constituent Assembly was not principally to perpetuate this wheelwork of useless royalty, placed out of complaisance to the people's eyes, in machinery which did not regulate it.

From History of the Girondists, Volume I Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution by Ryde, H. T.

The feminine forms which, towering majestically above the thrones of wheelwork, look down upon the dwarfed passenger or equestrian, are to-day perceived to have been presented on no exaggerated scale in the pages of Punch.

From Social Transformations of the Victorian Age A Survey of Court and Country by Escott, T. H. S. (Thomas Hay Sweet)

He is part of the rush in our social wheelwork, and yet he makes it move more slowly.

From The Adventures of a Widow A Novel by Fawcett, Edgar