pinwheel

or pin wheel

[ pin-hweel, -weel ]

noun

1. a child's toy consisting of a wheel or leaflike curls of paper or plastic loosely attached by a pin to a stick, designed to revolve when blown by or as by the wind.
2. Also called catherine wheel. a kind of firework supported on a pin which, when ignited, revolves rapidly and gives a dazzling display of light.
3. a wheel having pins at right angles to its rim for engaging the teeth of a gear.

verb (used without object)

1. to revolve rapidly like a pinwheel:

   Images of the past pinwheeled through his mind.

pinwheel

/ ˈpɪnˌwiːl /

noun

1. another name for Catherine wheel
2. a cogwheel whose teeth are formed by small pins projecting either axially or radially from the rim of the wheel
3. a toy consisting of plastic or paper vanes attached to a stick in such a manner that they revolve like the sails of a windmill Also called (in Britain and certain other countries)windmillwhirligig

Word History and Origins

Origin of pinwheel¹

First recorded in 1695–1705; pin + wheel

Example Sentences

In seconds I was back at it, arranging little wooden people — meeples, as they’re known — around a pinwheel with numbers at the end of each spoke.

From Los Angeles Times

The ground floor features the father’s cooking space, complete with a glowing fireplace and a bevy of pinwheels.

From Los Angeles Times

In the years since, the pinwheels have continued to fascinate, beguile and confound us.

From Scientific American

To spin and step and reach as the piano notes pinwheel all around you.

From Literature

Ten years after the Cronut, pastry chefs are twisting croissant dough into pinwheels and squiggles, tying it in knots and stacking it into cubes.

From New York Times