Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A cogged (toothed) gear.
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A toy for children, comprising an artificial (usually plastic) stem and a flower that spins round in the wind like a tiny windmill.
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Canada, US A firework that spins in the shape of a spinning wheel.
The sun blazing late in the afternoon, this long hilarious day like a pinwheel inexhaustibly throwing off sparks.1992, Joyce Carol Oates, Black Water, paperback edition, Penguin Books, page 125:
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Cooking, Food, Lifestyle A pastry made by laying out dough flat, smearing a topping over it and rolling it up into a spiral, then baking it, resulting in a swirl of filling.
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Cooking, Food, Lifestyle Any food product consisting of layers (for example of pastry and sweet filling, or of bread and meat) rolled into a spiral.
The damaged fighter jet pinwheeled out of control, the g-forces pushing the pilot so hard he couldn't reach the ejection switch.
Uncertainly, he stepped back, bumping into the short skirt of the seawall. He stumbled and pinwheeled his arms for balance.2009, David Wren, The Repossession, page 226:
1 more example
The laws of physics and chemistry transform a meadow of fine powder into a wreckage of icy chunks. Saugstad’s pinwheeling body would freeze into whatever position it was in the moment the snow stopped.2012 December 26, John Branch, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2013: