Meanings
wheelful1
comparative more wheelful · superlative most wheelful
- Full of, or bearing, wheels; wheeled.
The Wheelman for June has just reached us, and we can only say that it seems to be rolling all around the country, and that it is the most wheelful, as well as the wheeliest periodical we ever saw.
1883, Puck, volume 13, page 199
wheelful2
plural wheelfuls
- The amount a wheel can hold.
Trucks and cars flew past, slinging wheelfuls of heavy slush at me in brown sideways thumps, and I lived for the bus stops where I could shelter and warm my hands on the tea flask.
2016, Sarah Outen, Dare to Do: Taking on the planet by bike and boat1 more example
The external boundary is surface enough for communication between the organelles of a single cell with their minuscule volumes. But the surface of a wheel as large as a human foot could not provision the wheelful of organic matter within.
1983, Stephen Jay Gould, Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes
Origin
wheelful · adjective
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷelh₁-redup.
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷekʷléh₂
- Proto-Germanic*hweulō
- Old Englishhwēol
- Middle Englishwhel
- Englishwheel
- Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*pl̥h₁nós
- Proto-Germanic*fullaz
- Englishwheelful
wheelful · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷelh₁-redup.
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷekʷléh₂
- Proto-Germanic*hweulō
- Old Englishhwēol
- Middle Englishwhel
- Englishwheel
- Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*pl̥h₁nós
- Proto-Germanic*fullaz
- Englishwheelful
From wheel + -ful. Compare handful.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
wheelful. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wheelful
“wheelful.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wheelful. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wheelful,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wheelful.
Source: wheelful on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.