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Fifth wheel   /fɪfθ wil/   Listen
Fifth wheel

noun
1.
Someone or something that is unwanted and unneeded.  Synonym: deadwood.
2.
An extra car wheel and tire for a four-wheel vehicle.  Synonym: spare.
3.
A steering bearing that enables the front axle of a horse-drawn wagon to rotate.





WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University


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"Fifth wheel" Quotes from Famous Books



... baggage and the girls asked each other twenty questions at once and then the party paired off for the walk to the Matson home—that is, Joe and Mabel and Jim and Clara, formed the pairs, while Reggie was, so to speak, a fifth wheel to the coach! ...
— Baseball Joe Around the World - Pitching on a Grand Tour • Lester Chadwick
... enviously, "I realize," he reminded them, "that I am the fifth wheel, or any other superfluous thing, but you can't get rid of me. I am homesick—somebody's got to cheer ...
— The Tin Soldier • Temple Bailey
... sky, the temperature is low enough to make the air bracing without being too cold. I was at the Michigan avenue home early, and after a few minutes with Miss Wilson, walking through the rooms, admiring the floral decorations, I was deserted, and felt myself for the time being as rather "a fifth wheel to ...
— The Romance and Tragedy • William Ingraham Russell
... now determined to do my own utmost to minimise the dangers, to be a real help to Raffles in the act of altruistic depravity to which he had committed himself, and not merely a fifth wheel to his dashing chariot. Accordingly I went into solemn training for the event before us: a Turkish bath on the Saturday, a quiet Sunday between Mount Street and the club, and most of Monday lying like a log in cold-blooded preparation for the night's work. And when night ...
— Mr. Justice Raffles • E. W. Hornung


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