Ferris wheel

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An amusement ride consisting of a large upright rotating wheel having suspended seats that remain in a horizontal position as the wheel revolves.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• An amusement device consisting of a giant power-driven vertically oriented steel wheel, revolvable on its horizontal stationary axle, and carrying a number of balanced passenger cars or open seats around its rim; the seats are suspended so as to remain horizontal as the wheel rotates, and, depending on the size of the wheel, the passengers when they reach the top may have a grand vista of the surrounding area; -- so called after G. W. G. Ferris, American engineer, who erected the first of its kind for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A ride, at a fair, consisting of a large upright rotating wheel having suspended seats that remain in a horizontal position as the wheel revolves.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a vertical rotating mechanism consisting of a large wheel with suspended seats that remain upright as the wheel rotates; provides a ride at an amusement park