water wheel
2
3.5
- noun
- /ˈwɔːtər wiːl/
:
rueda de agua
- The first powered cloth mills were powered by water wheels.
Now imagine this being set up at your quarry site where you have a huge water wheel powered saw blade cutting system.
- Now imagine this being set up at your quarry site where you have a huge water wheel powered saw blade cutting system.
Examples
-
In 1840, wood supplied much more heat than coal, and more than 60,000 mills driven by water wheels provided far more energy than the nation's approximately 1,200 stationary steam engines.
Academic text (1999) -
Farmers used a water wheel to lift water from the river to irrigate their fields.
-
One of them had the biggest water wheel in the country.
Blog text (15) -
With each turn of the water wheel, the saw frame is hit upwards three times.
Blog text (12) -
Mechanical power began with water wheels and mills and moved to steam power and then to electricity.
Academic text (2012) -
The flow of water past a catamaran that had a water wheel between its pontoons caused the boat to move against the current.
Academic text (2009) -
So you can use a running river and you can harness that with a water wheel and it turns things and you can use those tourney things to do work.
-
At the bottom of the falls turned a giant water wheel, and to the left of the wheel sat a house from which a tunnel led to yet another house and to a set of walled steps.
Fiction book (1993) -
He had me show him the windmill, the water wheel, and the grist mill, and tell him how they worked.
Fiction book (2002) -
Referring to the time when draft animals were still used to draw water, Sabri reminisced that "those times of the water wheel were the best of times."
Academic text (2004)
Synonyms
1
3.5
A large wheel turned by flowing water that makes power for machines or lifts water
1
4.6
A large round device turned by flowing water to run machines that grind grain
A large wheel that flowing water turns to power machines that grind grain
A wheel with buckets that lifts water from a river to fields
A machine that uses moving or falling water to make power
How Powerful
- Specialized
10
3.5
2
3.5
- Archaic
- Specialized
2
9.3
22
4.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a large wheel turned by flowing water' is directly and compositionally derived from 'water' + 'wheel' — a noun-noun compound describing a wheel powered by water. This is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common construction that a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily understand.
Etymology
Water wheel comes from an old machine: a large wheel turned by flowing water to power mills or lift water. Because the moving water made the wheel turn and do work, the phrase now means a wheel driven by water to produce power.