wheel horse

1. A horse in a team that is harnessed immediately in front of the front wheels of the vehicle being drawn.

2. A diligent, dependable worker, especially in a political organization.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

wheel horse

1. (Automotive Engineering) another word for wheeler¹

2. (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) US and Canadian a person who works steadily or hard

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

wheel′ horse`

or wheel′-horse`,

1. Also called wheeler. a horse, or one of the horses, harnessed behind others and nearest the front wheels of a vehicle.

2. Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. a reliable, diligent, and strong worker.

[1700–10]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

wheel horse - a draft horse harnessed behind others and nearest the wheels of a vehicle

wheeler

draft horse, draught horse, dray horse - horse adapted for drawing heavy loads

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Before emerging from it, the rattling of wheels approached behind us, and a stage-coach rumbled out of the mountain, with seats on top and trunks behind, and a smart driver, in a drab greatcoat, touching the wheel horses with the whipstock and reining in the leaders.

View in context

Featuring: Orchard & Hi-Crop Tractors, Wheel Horse Garden Tractors, Domestic Gas Engines.

SHOWS & SPECIAL EVENTS

It also kicks like the Budweiser hitch's best wheel horse. The cartridge's designer once told me that adequate hearing protection against the .500 had yet to be produced, but that's a small concern when several hundred pounds of bruin is gnawing on your kneecap.

6 Top bear guns

Smeared and destroyed in the 1866 elections by his infuriated erstwhile Republican comrades, Slocum fled Syracuse, where he was persona non grata, for Brooklyn, where he became a local Democratic wheel horse and grew wealthy in the streetcar business.

Sherman's Forgotten General: Henry W. Slocum

Cowboys may be among the bidders at the next vintage sale to be held at Hawes as one of the first items catalogued in the sale is a four wheel horse drawn wagon.

Cowboys expected at vintage farm sale

From the States, companies such as Wheel Horse and Bolens were also forging ahead with production of the compact tractors.

History of the ride-on garden tractor

TORO Wheel Horse UK is launching a new range of what it describes as "environmentally-friendly" lawnmowers.

One man went to mow

She worked most of the night, and when she had the trunk lopped, she put her ax away in the garage and went around to Scott MacPhearson's farm and borrowed his wheel horse, the Belgian, and drove him over to her house.

Bobby Lee Carter and the Hand of God

Christie, 39, suspended from athletics after failing a drug test, trundled along on his pounds 4,000 Toro "Wheel Horse" trying to forget the furore caused by the dope revelation.

TRACTOR AND FIELD STAR; Linford cools off with a slow-mow

From beginnings in Elmer's garage, the company became Wheel Horse Products Inc.

The Porter case

At the Wheel Horse plant in Elkart, Ind., bins replaced seven shelf bays to store small parts, saving one-third the space.

Small parts storage: the basic options

cleaning cycle time when equipment was new; * 300 hr life for vanes/blades, impellers, impeller cases/cages; * 1000 hr life for bottom end liners; * 0.33 lb of steel shot per wheel horse power per hour.

Examining cleaning room requirements, part 1