awheel

1 9.9

Traveling by a wheeled vehicle like a bicycle or car

adjective
/əˈwiːl/

Archaic

: en rueda

The children rode awheel on their new bicycles.

Examples

The image of ladies awheel on cycles was once a symbol of modernity.
I love traveling awheel during the summer.
By sunset, the entire country was awheel, celebrating the new road.
In the early 1900s, many city dwellers found themselves frequently awheel.
During the summer, we spent our weekends awheel, exploring the countryside on our bicycles.
Families often enjoy the freedom of being awheel as they travel to various holiday destinations in their cars.
She felt a sense of joy awheel as she rode through the park on her new skateboard.

Surface Forms

awheel positive

Morphology

awheel = wheel (semi-transparent) = a + wheel

The meaning is logically a- + wheel ('on wheels'), but the prefix 'a' in this sense is archaic/less familiar to many learners, so recognition may be uncertain.

Etymology

Awheel comes from the old English prefix a- meaning 'on' and the word wheel, so it originally meant 'on wheels'. That's why awheel today means moving by a wheeled vehicle like a bicycle or car.