Definition of Fifth wheel

1. Noun. Someone or something that is unwanted and unneeded.

Exact synonyms: Deadwood
Generic synonyms: Redundance, Redundancy

2. Noun. An extra car wheel and tire for a four-wheel vehicle.
Exact synonyms: Spare
Generic synonyms: Car Wheel

3. Noun. A steering bearing that enables the front axle of a horse-drawn wagon to rotate.
Generic synonyms: Bearing

Definition of Fifth wheel

1. Noun. A type of trailer hitch, which consists of a horseshoe-shaped plate on a multi-directional pivot, with a locking pin to couple with the kingpin of a truck trailer. ¹

2. Noun. A very large truck trailer; an 18-wheeler. ¹

3. Noun. A very large trailer that is towed with a pickup truck. ¹

4. Noun. (idiomatic) Anything superfluous or unnecessary. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Fifth Wheel

fifth columnist
fifth cranial nerve
fifth cranial nerves
fifth disease
fifth finger
fifth freedom rights
fifth gear
fifth gears
fifth grade
fifth grades
fifth normal form
fifth part
fifth slip
fifth slips
fifth ventricle
fifth wheel
fifth wheels
fifthly
fifthness
fifths
fiftie
fifties
fiftieth
fiftieths
fifty
fifty-cent piece
fifty-eight
fifty-eighth
fifty-fifth
fifty-fifty

Literary usage of Fifth wheel

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and by Robert Christy (1887)
"Alexander. Well-wisher. 1. A well-wisher sees from afar. Sp. Wheel. 1. A fifth wheel to a cart is but an incumbrance. 2. Crazy wheels run longest. Ger. 3. ..."

2. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1920)
"The fifth-wheel device of cor takes its ... from the fifth wheel on I front axle of an ordinary wagon, ..."

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