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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wheelwork

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 H. T. Ryde

But are we prepared to grant this first position—to assert that man is but an automaton, whose wheelwork is entirely without—the mere buffet and plaything of accident and circumstances?

From The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races With Particular Reference to Their Respective Influence in the Civil and Political History of Mankind by T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur

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 Robert Chambers

It is, says Fabre, almost like the movement of a machine of which the wheelwork will not act until one has begun to turn the wheel which directs it.

From The Industries of Animals by Frédéric Houssay

A small carriage geared to the wheelwork traversed its length, carrying electromagnetic signals.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 3 "Chitral" to "Cincinnati" by Various

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