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Glite Dictionary
🎯 Area of expertise 🚢 Steering room
wheelhouse

wheelhouse

5 7.6
An enclosed part of a ship where people steer and guide it
  • noun
  • /ˈwiːlhaʊs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : puente de mando
  • From the wheelhouse, the crew could observe all the important instruments while steering the vessel.
  • wheelhouse window
  • wheelhouse door
  • cabin under the wheelhouse

Examples

  • The young crewman Austin had coffee with earlier stepped into the wheelhouse from the radio room.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Inside the Narcissus' wheelhouse, Peewee Jorgenson's huge calloused hands expertly gentled the kicking wheel.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Are we going back to the bridge and the wheelhouse?

    S.O.S. Titanic (1980)

  • I want you to go up to the wheelhouse, tidy up.

    Serenity (2019)

  • Open the wheelhouse door, keep it back on the latch.

    When Eight Bells Toll (1971)

  • I was back on deck in ten minutes, only now Paul was in the wheelhouse with Lyss.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • We joined three others at the wheelhouse, as I felt the boat's speed ebb away.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • I walked out of the wheelhouse, into the mockingly bright sunlight.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Austin stepped into the wheelhouse as Zavala came in from the other wing.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The captain carefully navigated the ship from the wheelhouse as they approached the harbor.

Synonyms

pilothouse
vswheelhouse
  • US
2 8.1

An enclosed room on a ship where the captain steers and controls it

is limited to use on ships rather than on smaller boats

Idioms

in my wheelhouse
  • Informal
2 8.1

A task or topic you are good at and comfortable doing

Surface Forms

wheelhouse singular
wheelhouses plural

Morphology

wheelhouse = wheel + house (transparent) = wheel + house

Literal compound 'wheel' + 'house' — a house/enclosure for the ship's wheel, which is directly derivable from its parts.

Etymology

Wheelhouse comes from the everyday words wheel and house — a 'house' for the ship's steering wheel — so it is the enclosed place on a ship where the captain steers the vessel.