Meanings
nounsternwheel (plural sternwheels)
plural sternwheels
- nauticalA paddle wheel positioned at the stern of a vessel.
The current was more rapid now, the steamer seemed at her last gasp, the stern–wheel flopped languidly, and I caught myself listening on tiptoe for the next beat of the boat, for in sober truth I expected the wretched thing to give up every moment.
1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II
Origin
- Englishstern
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷelh₁-redup.
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷekʷléh₂
- Proto-Germanic*hweulō
- Old Englishhwēol
- Middle Englishwhel
- Englishwheel
- Englishsternwheel
Cite this entry
APA
sternwheel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sternwheel
MLA
“sternwheel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sternwheel. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sternwheel,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sternwheel.
Source: sternwheel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.