Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A gear consisting of a spirally threaded shaft and a wheel with marginal teeth that mesh into it.
- noun The toothed wheel of this gear; a worm wheel.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In machinery, a gearwheel of which the teeth are so formed that they are acted on and the wheel is made to revolve by a worm or shaft on which a spiral is turned—that is, by an endless screw. See cuts under
Hindley's screw (at screw), steam-engine, and odometer.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun gear consisting of a shaft with screw thread (the worm) that meshes with a toothed wheel (the worm wheel); changes the direction of the axis of rotary motion
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ruzuzu commented on the word worm gear
"In machinery, a gearwheel of which the teeth are so formed that they are acted on and the wheel is made to revolve by a worm or shaft on which a spiral is turned—that is, by an endless screw. See cuts under Hindley's screw (at screw), steam-engine, and odometer."
-- from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
March 1, 2018