sternwheel

English

Etymology

stern +‎ wheel

Noun

sternwheel (plural sternwheels)

1. (nautical) A paddle wheel positioned at the stern of a vessel.
   • 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:

     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.

Derived terms

• sternwheeler

See also

• sidewheel