Lexic.us

Definition of Fifth wheel

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

2. Noun. An extra car wheel and tire for a four-wheel vehicle.

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

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 (current term) 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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