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fifth wheel

When there are two couples and a fifth person who is not in a couple, the extra person is known as a fifth wheel - a situation in which may feel uncomfortable to some people

Etymology:

  • It is a 16thcentury French proverb. Since we know that all vehicles have specific wheels for them, for instance a unicycle is comprised of one wheel, a bicycle has two, there are three wheels in tricycle and cars, buses and wagons have four wheels, there is not a vehicle which has five wheels. The fifth wheel we can say is additional, not needed or extra. In the same way any person joining the two couples will be a “fifth wheel”.
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Bert and his wife and Ernie and his wife are going. Oscar said he didn't want to go with them because he would feel like a fifth wheel.

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Submitted by TriplePurple on April 14, 2024

Modified by TriplePurple on April 14, 2024

Additional definitions for 'fifth wheel':

fifth wheelA type of trailer hitch, which consists of a horseshoe-shaped plate on a multi-directional pivot, with a locking pin to couple with the kingpin of a truck trailer.
fifth wheelA very large trailer that is towed with a pickup truck.
fifth wheelA very large truck trailer; an 18-wheeler.
fifth wheelAnything superfluous or unnecessary.
See them all »

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Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to fifth wheel

German wheeltake the wheelbehind the wheelat the wheelbehind the wheeltake the fifthset one's shoulder to the wheelGerman wheelbig wheelbreak a butterfly on a wheelplead the fifthplead the fifthreinvent the wheelPut Your Shoulder to the Wheel

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    "fifth wheel." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/fifth-wheel_64278>.

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