handwheel

[ hand-hweel, -weel ]

noun

1. a wheel, as a valve wheel, turned by hand.

Word History and Origins

Origin of handwheel¹

First recorded in 1930–35; hand + wheel

Example Sentences

The activists also decorated the valve handwheel with sunflowers, and some attached themselves to the wheel with superglue and chains, the organisation said.

From Reuters

It began where a spoked handwheel, rusted red, had been pressed into the dirt as if it were a sundial, a clock, stopped.

From The New Yorker

The façade’s sliding sun screens, made of a locally produced recycled-paper-based material called Richlite, mimic boxcar doors and can be opened and closed with a giant handwheel.

From Architectural Digest

Note that its machine gun was removed, though the turret still could be manipulated, creakily, via a handwheel within.

From New York Times

The large handwheel H and a corresponding wheel on the opposite side are used for adjusting the spindle rapidly by hand.

From Project Gutenberg