Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A stunt in which the front wheel or wheels of a vehicle, such as a bicycle or motorcycle, are raised so that the vehicle is balanced momentarily on its rear wheel or wheels.
  • idiom (pop a wheelie) To execute such a stunt.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A stunt where a bicycle or other vehicle is ridden while it is standing only on its rear wheel or wheels.
  • verb intransitive To perform the stunt of riding a vehicle on its rear wheel.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[wheel + –ie.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From wheel +‎ -ie.

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Examples

  • It follows a £2million scheme adopted by six councils to put the devices in wheelie bins.

    Serious About Garbage | Impact Lab 2007

  • "If your front end comes up - if you 'wheelie' - you then lose purchase with your front limbs on the ground," explained Sarah Williams of the University of Liverpool.

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2009

  • Thanks very much for reading, ride safe, and remember--if you must "wheelie," always use the appropriate bar.

    BSNYC Friday Fun Quiz! BikeSnobNYC 2010

  • By the way, yesterday streetwear enthusiast and fixed-gear freestyle impresario Prolly quibbled over my use of the word "wheelie," saying that it only applies when you pedal and that the proper term is "manual."

    Duck and Cover: The Art of Appropriation BikeSnobNYC 2010

  • For any of you have done it recently you will know that a great deal of it is about 'issues' such as wheelie bins, blocked drains and planning permission - all of which are really council issues.

    The Wit & Wisdom of Tony Banks 2006

  • A couple of strapping, self-assured young men come by, laughing and chatting as they haul their large 'wheelie' bags, like the ones the professionals use.

    Archive 2005-12-04 Laban 2005

  • A couple of strapping, self-assured young men come by, laughing and chatting as they haul their large 'wheelie' bags, like the ones the professionals use.

    The County Nets Laban 2005

  • I hope the renovations don't eliminate one of NYC's last remaining "wheelie" stoplights from the 1920s...

    Central Park Police Station to Be Made Stable Brooks of Sheffield 2007

  • We did a little riding on the back/country roads, getting some nice lean angles and corner speeds, but he took those pretty tamely considering the extra 165 pounds on the back (that's another thing, this thing was so friggin 'overwhelmingly powerful and fast, and it was carrying around an extra person ... and he didn't use full throttle because the extra weight at the back makes it kind of wheelie-prone).

    kevynwight Diary Entry kevynwight 2002

  • But new research, published in Biology Letters, suggests that this "wheelie" avoidance is the limit at low speeds.

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2009

Comments

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  • Either a bicycle trick or one of those pull-along, wheeled airport suitcases.

    April 11, 2007

  • “I consider the fine against Mr. Corkhill to be a matter of injustice, really, and as a Christian minister I’m required to speak out against injustice,�? declared the Rev. John Bannister, the rector of Whitehaven, a seaside town in Cumbria, in the far northwest. Referring to the garbage cans residents here use, he said, “To be given a criminal record for leaving your wheelie bin open by three inches has, I think, really gone beyond the bounds of responsible behavior.�?

    The New York Times, Take Out the Trash Precisely, Now. It’s the Law., by Sarah Lyall, June 27, 2008

    June 30, 2008

  • You're bringing attention to an insidious development here in England and this story highlights just one aspect of refuse collection.

    And it's not the quantity of the garbage in the bin, it's the volume. I take a sledgehammer to mine if it's likely that I won't be able to close it. Won't be long before I get charged with using an offensive weapon, I suppose. This compacts the rubbish down to 'acceptable levels'.

    I used it with the garden rubbish wheelie bin recently and it took two to move it!

    June 30, 2008

  • Oh, wheely?

    June 30, 2008

  • I like the phrase "sticker of shame" from this article, too. Not that I'd enjoy getting one.

    It sounds like an awful nuisance, but part of me wishes for a similar crackdown in the United States....

    June 30, 2008

  • Damn. Sounds like some sort of emu intervention might be in order...

    July 1, 2008

  • Bilby -- HAHAHAHA hee hee hee! :-D

    July 1, 2008

  • "The rubbish fairy is dead".

    (Sob)

    But you have to be strict with these rubbish abusers. Let them get away with open wheelies, and the next thing you know there will be marauding gangs of suburban fly-tippers roaming the city streets with impunity.

    Put Grandpa in the stocks!

    July 1, 2008

  • When the Mayor, Alec Fong Lim, introduced wheelie bins here, citizens were worried about the smell. Due to the increased capacity of the monsters, collection was reduced from twice weekly to once. Things can get whiffy pretty quickly in the tropics. The Mayor was then dubbed Alec Pong Bin, although he did salvage his reputation for civic duty by successfully dying in office.

    July 1, 2008