wheeten.html - See: BIG CHEESE or BIG WHEEL, GREASE THE WHEELS, PUT ONE'S SHOULDER TO THE WHEEL.

wheeten.html - {n. phr.}, {slang} A person with power and control. * /The biggest wheeler-dealer in the state has many friends in high places in business and government and is a rich man himself./

wheeten.html - {n. phr.} A reliable and industrious worker on whom one may depend. * /Jake is such a good worker that he is the wheelhorse of our tiny firm./

wheeten.html - noun
and verb Also written wheel-clamp or wheelclamp (Lifestyle and Leisure) noun: A clamp designed to be locked to one of the wheels of an illegally parked vehicle, thus immobilizing it until the appropriate fine has been paid and the clamp is removed. transitive verb: To immobilize (a vehicle ) by attaching one of these clamps; to clamp. Also, by extension, to subject (a person) to the experience of having his or her car clamped. Etymology: Formed by compounding. History and Usage: The wheel clamp was first used in the city of Denver, Colorado, allegedly as long ago as 1949. At that time, though, it was not known as a wheel clamp: from the late sixties, the device was nicknamed the Denver boot or Denver shoe, and it was not until the eighties, when the idea was widely taken up in the UK, that wheel clamp started to be used as a neutral name for these objects. The metal clamp prevents one of the wheels of the car from turning, and sometimes also positions a sharp spike above the front of the car to deter attempts to drive out of it. Although very unpopular , wheel clamping is very effective and therefore seems likely to remain a part of everyday life in car-based societies. Right now the world is in a dreadful state what with terrorists, famine and wheel clamping. Comic Relief Christmas Book (1986), p.
103 His powers of forbearance had been severely stretched the night before when he found himself wheel-clamped outside a restaurant . 'I said something unpleasant to this man and afterwards I felt absolutely awful.' Sunday Express Magazine 1 Feb. 1987, p.
18 Wheel clamps have recently been introduced in Rome in a move against illegal parking. Holiday Which? Mar . 1990, p. 73

wheeten.html - noun
(Lifestyle and Leisure) A large refuse bin on wheels; a Eurobin (see Euro- ). Etymology: Formed by compounding. History and Usage: The wheelie bin first appeared in the UK in about 1986, but both the object and the name seem to have been used in Australia for some years before that. The bins are designed to cut refuse collection costs (an important consideration in view of the privatization of local government services in the eighties); since they are on wheels, members of the public can move them to the front of their properties on the appropriate day for refuse collection in their area , thus saving dustmen thousands of trips to the side or back of properties and removing the unsightliness of black plastic sacks left out for collection. However, a wheelie bin is usually quite large--up to five feet tall--and this has meant that the whole idea has come in for criticism on two counts: that the elderly and infirm cannot manage them, and that they encourage people to throw away material which could otherwise be recycled. To all the freedom fighters who chucked their enthusiastic weight into my battle against the wheelie-bins;...my warmest thanks. The Times 29 Dec. 1989, p. 16

wheeten.html - int.
expressing delight or excitement. [imit.]