Wheel and axle Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun hoist so arranged that a rope unwinding from a wheel is wound onto a cylindrical drum or shaft coaxial with the wheel

WordNet

Definitions
  1. (Mech.), one of the elementary machines or mechanical powers, consisting of a wheel fixed to an axle, and used for raising great weights, by applying the power to the circumference of the wheel, and attaching the weight, by a rope or chain, to that of the axle. Called also axis in peritrochio, and perpetual lever, the principle of equilibrium involved being the same as in the lever, while its action is continuous. See Mechanical powers, under Mechanical.

Webster 1913