wheels, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

wheels n.

1. as vehicles.

(a) a bicycle.

1889		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 1 June 10/2: The monarch wheelman didn’t bring his wheels with him.
1895		E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden Explains 119: Him and Mr. Burton was down t’ de stables lookin at some new wheels what had just been fetch in from de city.
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 87: If we did n’t ride wheels this summer we would n’t be in it at all.

(b) (also set of wheels) a car; thus on wheels, driving a car.

1938		‘Sl. among Nebraska Negroes’ in AS XIII:4 Dec. 317/1: To be on rubber or to be on wheels means to have a car.
1943		R.L. Bellem ‘Phoney Shakedown’ Dan Turner - Hollywood Detective Feb. 🌐 I [...] got my wheels rolling in the direction of Curson Street.
1959		I. Taylor ‘Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb’ 🎵 Well now, let’s take it from the top and grab some wheels.
1963		M. Braly Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 140: ‘Look! Drive me out there.’ ‘Sorry. No wheels.’.
1967		J. Wynnum I’m a Jack, All Right 21: We’d be sweet to pick up a couple of dolls since we’ve got wheels.
1978		R.D. Pharr Giveadamn Brown (1997) 17: They always came [...] on their own wheels [...] big, new gleaming, cars.
1977		S. Berkoff East in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 79: No point in pulling without wheels – or you’d end up taking some scrubber down Edmonton and walking all the way back.
1981		A.K. Shulman On the Stroll 8: He was overdue on his hotel bill, his wheels were in the shop.
1985		B. Robinson Aussie Bull 32: The young man nowadays usually wants ‘a set of wheels’ [...] before he meets a girl.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 25: Everyone needs moolah. If you haven’t got The Necessary they repo your wheels and turf you out of your fibro. So everyone needs a lurk.
1989		B. Simon ‘Score Me the Ages’ Born in the RSA (1997) 185: I need wheels man, I need wheels.
1992		G. Disher Paydirt [ebook] ‘I’d hate to leave you without wheels’.
1996		(con. 1946) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 57: I don’t need advice from a guy who doesn’t even own a set of wheels.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 305: Ah’ve got the wheels, the hot chick, now aw ah need is a line ay posh!
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 256: LA was the world’s first true car town; it’s still the place in which having the most impressive wheels is crucial.
2004		P. Howard PS, I Scored the Bridesmaids 199: Eventually, roysh, we get our wheels back and we hit the road.
2010		C. Hiaasen Star Island (2011) 51: Nice wheels. Is this the new C-Class?
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: None of them have a set of wheels like this.
2016		N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] [T]he lads at Sweden’s finest automaker had lent me some wheels.
2021		T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 143: ‘I need wheels and you got ’em’.
2023		M. Herron Secret Hours 236: [H]e’d left his secret wheels in a lock-up in Newton Abbot.

1957

Morn. Call (Allentown, PA) 24 Feb. 17/2: Waffles are [...] ‘wheels’.

(d) a truck.

1961		G.L. Coon Meanwhile, Back at the Front (1962) 250: He indicated the truck angrily. ‘This damned white elephant. Goddammit, I’ve been short of wheels ever since I got over here.’.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 104: Kenneally [...] had crossed us by taking off five of his trucks for another run [...] he was afraid of this job and didn’t want to risk all his wheels.
1996		P. Temple Bad Debts (2012) [ebook] We inspected the car [...] there were about half a dozen bullet holes [...] ‘I’ll get a mate to bring some wheels a round, take this away’.

(e) a motorcycle.

1999

N. Cohn Yes We have No 293: All you needs is wheels [...] and a rebel heart.

2. (US) the legs; in cit. 1952 of a horse; occas. in sing.

1912		Daily Trib. (Bismarck, ND) 5 Feb. 3/3: It’s my wheel, in’t it? [...] My wheel, my creeper, Oh golly, that hurts.
1917		A. Baer Giants in Hot Water 23 May [synd. col.] The Robins got up on their hind wheels and gyped the Cards 3 to 1.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1952		in Lethbridge Herald (Alberta, Canada) 22 Mar. 14/4: A horse’s legs are referred to as his wheels.
1968		‘Hy Lit’ Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 3: bad wheels – A chick with unattractive legs; or an athlete who can’t run well anymore.
1972		J. Wambaugh Blue Knight 294: My wheels are gone and my ass is too big to be chasing you all over these streets.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 102: His wife still had terrific wheels.
1984		LaBarge & Holt Sweetwater Gunslinger 201 (1990) 67: You’ve got nice wheels.
1993		(con. 1969) N.L. Russell Suicide Charlie 150: ‘Hey guys, get a load of her wheels’ (wheels meaning legs), he would urge us from his studio in Saigon.
2017		D. Jenkins Stick a Fork In Me 31: Those jeans show off a set of wheels that would stand out in any chorus line.

3. influence [the image is of machinery working in the head/government, etc.].

1996

(con. 1949) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 147: They were the ones with the wheels and the departmental muscle.

4. (US) brains.

1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 239: He’s been tankin’ up too regular, I guess. His wheels are buzzin’.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 106: You could hear thinking wheels working out the odds.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 128: I could hear her wheels schemin’.
2012		S. Blass Pirate for Life 172: [W]e all figured [...] Shopay was going to bunt. The wheels were turning. [...] My focus was entirely on the situation at hand.

5. (US) female breasts.

2000

G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 109: A young Asian waitress with nice wheels bellied up to the service bar.

6. see wheel n. (3)

In phrases

have wheels in one’s head (v.)

(US campus) used to deride an unpopular individual.

1894

Star-Gaz. (Elmira, NY) 15 May 4/3: Yale College Slang [...] It is easy to express your dislike [...] without even bordering on profanity. He is ‘full of tacks’ or ‘prunes,’ ‘has wheels in his head.

set of wheels (n.) [metonymy]

(orig. US) a car.

1954		‘Hot Rod Lexicon’ in Hepster’s Dict. 6: Set of wheels – Car.
1976		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 5: set of wheels – motor vehicle.
1996		T. Wolff ‘The Chain’ in The Night in Question 136: The rusty Toyota [...] was a puzzle [...] they couldn’t figure out why, with all his money, he didn’t get himself a decent set of wheels.
2002		Guardian 11 Dec. 🌐 So if you’re thinking of splashing out on a new set of wheels this Christmas you need to keep your wits about you to avoid being taken for a ride.

SE in slang uses

In phrases

have wheels (in one’s head) (v.) [fig. use of SE ride, e.g. an eccentric idea]

(US) to be insane, eccentric.

[1608		Merry Devil of Edmonton II i: Thou touchest liquor, thou art foundered straight, What! are your brains always water-mills? must they ever run round?].
1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 15: wheel in one’s head, to have a To be eccentric; to ride a hobby; to have perverse ideas.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 130: His failure to land the Melancholy Dane in a nut factory at the wind-up of the play (there must have been some kind of a Bloomingdale outfit in Denmark at that time for folks who had wheels).
1900		A.H. Lewis ‘Politics’ Sandburrs 96: Me old friend across d’ table had w’eels an’ was wrong in his cocoa.
1902		A.N. Lyons Hookey 78: I’ve got wheels in me ’ead, an’ the kid’ll ’oller, an’ ’e’ll call me names.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 134: No wheels in her head if she says that. Take it from me, she’s a wise gazabo.
1920		Advocate (Burnie, Tas.) 5 June 7/2: Horace’s got wheels about the bints.
1929		J.T. Farrell ‘Calico Shoes’ Fellow Countrymen (1937) 28: Stella, you loony, cra-azy. Gor wheels in de head.
[c.1930		(ref. to late 19C) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 281: I really wondered what little wheels were out of line in his head].
1932		(con. 1910s) J.T. Farrell Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 114: The punk had wheels in his head.
1984		Alcadle May-June 25: In his view, anyone who had been to the business school had ‘wheels in his head.’ And anyone who had taken part in campus politics was a ‘cut back’ — literally, a small and undesirable cow.

wheels on the bus (n.) [popular children’s song ‘The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round’]

(N.Z. prison) a transfer between prisons.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 202/2: wheels on the bus n pl. a transfer to another prison.