breast wheel

noun

1. a waterwheel onto which the propelling water is fed at the height of a horizontal axle.

Word History and Origins

Origin of breast wheel¹

First recorded in 1750–60

Example Sentences

A. If the breast wheel gave the same efficiency as the other, it would require a face about 2½ times as wide.

From Project Gutenberg

The method of applying water power in that day being strictly limited to placing the overshot or breast wheel in the race leading from the canal to the river, the mill was necessarily placed on a narrow strip of land between these two bodies of water, with the race-way running under the mill.

From Project Gutenberg