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Glite Dictionary
🚗 A getaway driver 🎉 A formal driver 🚢 A ship steerer
wheelsman

wheelsman

9.9
A person who drives the getaway car for criminals
  • noun
  • /ˈwiːlz.mən/
  • NSFW
translation icon : conductor
  • During the trial, the wheelsman admitted to driving the getaway car for the gang.

Examples

  • Police identified the wheelsman from security camera footage after the heist.

  • The wheelsman waited in the car while the others robbed the store.

  • The wheelsman sped away as the police approached.

  • He was a wheelsman for the mob.

  • The wheelsman sped off as soon as the robbery was complete.

  • After the crime, the police tracked the wheelsman using the car's GPS.

  • The detectives were looking for the wheelsman who got away with the gang.

Synonyms

wheelman
vswheelsman
  • Jargon
6 8.7

A person who drives a car to help criminals escape after a crime

operates after the crime to transport criminals away rather than during it

Surface Forms

wheelsman singular
wheelsmen plural

Morphology

wheelsman = wheel + man (transparent) = wheel + man

The compound 'wheel' + 'man' straightforwardly indicates a person associated with operating wheels, which yields the sense 'driver' readily for learners.

Etymology

Wheelsman comes from wheel + man, literally someone 'at the wheel'. A helpful way to remember the criminal sense is to picture the person waiting in the car with the wheel ready to drive the getaway, so wheelsman means the getaway driver.