Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(N.Z.) half-a-crown, 2s 6d (12½p).

1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 HALF-A-WHEEL— 2s. 6d.
1963		D. Glover Bedside Book 20: ‘Five shillings,’ said the woman in the telephone exchange [...] I tossed down two half-wheels [DNZE].

(Aus/US) to irritate, to pester someone.

1968

S. Gore Holy Smoke 9: He must’ve thought he might as well hop in and do his bit then as wait for the Government to get on his wheel with a requisition order or something.

see go around the block under block n.⁸

(Aus.) close behind, in pursuit; putting pressure on someone to do something.

1922		C. Drew Rogues and Ruses 34: Me and Finger was on their wheels, but by the time we hit the ring Smiles’ mount was three to one on [AND].
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 78: Don’t come here if there’s a busy on your wheel!
1959		A.W. Upfield Bony and the Mouse (1961) 81: I’ll be ready for it. I’m going to be right on Tony’s wheel when it happens.
1969		Osmar White Under the Iron Rainbow 118: The inspector’s been on my wheel to trace him.

(orig. US) used as an intensifier, e.g. shit on wheels under shit n.

1885		C.F. Lummis letter 5 Jan. in Byrkit Letters from the Southwest (1989) 228: Letting us know what a hell of terror he was on wheels.
1924		C.E. Mulford Hopalong Cassidy Returns 77: I got to admit he’s hell on wheels with a rifle.
1953		F. Paley Rumble on the Docks (1955) 185: That Clara is a bitch on wheels.
1997		‘Q’ Deadmeat 325: She looks like a bitch on wheels.
2004		Mad mag. June 27: Martha Stewart [...] the ever popular, but nonetheless hurtful, ‘Bitch on Wheels.’.
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] ‘My stepmother-in-law’s a bitch on wheels’.

(US) to get a process underway; get rolling.

1974

D. Jenkins Dead Solid Perfect 212: ‘Let’s go put the wheels on,’ Roosevelt said. I went to the practice area and hit about thirty or forty balls.

a phr. used to indicate that the speaker has not understood the subject of the conversation in which they had been involved.

1930		(con. 1914–18) Brophy & Partridge Songs and Sl. of the British Soldier.
1946		D. MacDonagh Happy as Larry Act IV: We had one of them but the wheel came off it! / You don’t need words that length to tell me straight.
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 311: ‘We had one but the wheel came off,’ said Jock.

(Aus.) events turned out badly .

1991

J.T. Pickle Aus.-Amer. Dict. 30: ‘The wheel came off the Billy Cart’ is the equivalent of our American quotation, ‘The shit hit the fan.’ .

a prison treadmill.

1869		Reynolds’ Newspaper 2 May 8/1: ‘The wheel of life,’ i.e., the treadmill, was not pleasant.
1883		J.W. Horsley in Echo 25 Jan. 2/4: The treadmill again, is more politely called the everlasting staircase, or the wheel of life, or the vertical care-grinder.
1890		Rogers & Durandeau [perf. Charles Coburn] ‘Come Where the Booze is Cheaper’ 🎵 ‘Well,’ said [the magistrate], ‘if you object to paying, you can work it out on the Wheel of Life’.
1904		Indianapolis Jrnl 28 Feb. 3/3: In the criminal’s poetic fancy a tread mill is [...] ‘a wheel of life’.

events went wrong, plans did not turn out as expected.

1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 39: ‘Sucker, just what the hell are you doing back?’ ‘The wheels came off.’.
1973		E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 246: ‘What happened? What went wrong?’ [...] ‘The fuckin’ wheels came off.’.
2000		Bug (Aus.) 27 Mar. 🌐 Of course the wheels are going to fall off. Don’t they always.

(Aus.) dead.

2016

N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] VITAL AUSSIE VERNACULAR Dead: 1. Carked it 2. Kissed the concrete 3. Lights out 4. Wheels up 5. Bit the dust 6. Cashed in her chips 7. Curled up the toes 8. Pulled the pin.

(US) of a situation, to deteriorate.

1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 25: It’s you and me till the wheels fall off.
2001		N. Green Shooting Dr. Jack (2002) 100: What do you do when the wheels come off and everything has gone bad?
2011		G. Knight Hood Rat 109: Pilgrim cannot believe the wheels have come off his birthday plans so quickly.