toothed wheel
- noun
- The clock mechanism uses a toothed wheel to control the movement of the hands.
Examples
-
In the design of the machine, the toothed wheel creates precise perforations in the material as it rotates.
-
As designed, the Difference Engine would have calculated polynomial functions via the movement of stacks of toothed wheels.
Academic text (2003) -
And typically on mechanical systems, a toothed wheel will engage in the so-called sprocket holes and will pull the thing forward.
-
The first proto-computers were simple adding machines, using toothed wheels similar to clockworks to tally strings of numbers.
Academic text (2003) -
The engineer replaced the broken toothed wheel to ensure the machine would function correctly.
Synonyms
A small wheel with sharp teeth used to make tiny holes or dots in paper and leather
How Serrated
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'toothed' (having tooth-like or serrated projections) with 'wheel' (a rotating circular object): it simply describes a wheel that has teeth. This adjective+noun composition is a standard, compositional pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Toothed wheel is a noun for a wheel with small teeth around its edge. As it turns, the teeth bite into paper to make a neat line of holes, so the name means a wheel with teeth sticking out that is used to make 'perforations'.