Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In locomotives and railway-cars, the distance between the points of contact of the front and back wheels with the rail.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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I shall never forget that day, we had a large long wheel-base lorry and about 12 of us went searching for bodies all around Kalamata.
John Keay 2010
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"If," she continued inexorably, "a train travelling at the rate of sixty-two miles and three-quarters in an hour takes two and a half seconds to pass a lame man walking in the same direction find how many men with one arm each can board a motor-bus in Piccadilly Circus, having first extracted the square root of the wheel-base."
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, February 7, 1917 Various
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When Fuenterrabia was planned, an eleven-feet-six wheel-base was not considered.
Jonah and Co. Dornford Yates 1922
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Notable features are twin chain-driven propellers, rudders between the main planes, the broad wheel-base and the position of the pilot.
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Notable features are twin chain-driven propellers, rudders between the main planes, the broad wheel-base and the position of the pilot.
The Aeroplane Speaks 1917
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It will be seen how compact and efficient these little steam plants are when a ten-horse-power engine, boiler, water-tank, and gasoline reservoir holding enough to drive the machine one hundred miles, are stored in a carriage with a wheel-base of less than seven feet and a width of five feet, and still leave ample room for four passengers.
Stories of Inventors The Adventures of Inventors and Engineers Russell Doubleday 1910
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Might have been all right on smooth macadam, but on this country road he had her jumpin 'around on that short wheel-base like a jackrabbit with the itch.
Torchy and Vee Sewell Ford 1907
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The cars were great and opulent, of impressive wheel-base, and fore-and - aft they were laden intricately with baggage: concave trunks fitting behind the tonneaus, thin trunks fastened upon the footboards, green, circular trunks adjusted to the spare tires, all deeply coated with dust.
The Guest of Quesnay Booth Tarkington 1907
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Your wheel-base will keep you on the track, and there ain't any curves worth mentionin '.
The Day's Work - Volume 1 Rudyard Kipling 1900
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He liked the brown wheel and the yellow floor and the beautiful bit of blue cloth thrown over the wheel-base.
The Children's Book of Celebrated Pictures Lorinda Munson Bryant 1894
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