treadwheel

Everyday

1. A large wheel turned by people or animals walking on steps or boards inside or around it, used in the past to grind corn or pump water. tree →
2. A punishment in Victorian prisons where prisoners had to walk on such a wheel for hours. tree →
3. (figurative, like «treadmill») Boring, tiring work that never seems to end. tree →

In the lessons

In history lessons about old prisons, the treadwheel was hard labour for convicts from 1818 into the late 1800s: prisoners climbed endless steps, often doing no useful work. In The Wind in the Willows Toad fears hard punishment in gaol. Today «treadmill» is a running machine in a gym, and «a treadmill» also means dull, endless routine.

Examples

• Prisoners in Victorian gaols had to walk on the treadwheel for hours. tree →
• The treadwheel turned the millstones to grind corn. tree →
• A donkey walked inside the treadwheel to lift water from the well. tree →
• Working in that factory felt like being on a treadwheel. tree →
• We saw a picture of an old prison treadwheel in our history book. tree →
• The treadwheel was a cruel and pointless punishment. tree →

Note

Countable. Close to «treadmill»; «treadmill» is the usual modern word (and also a gym machine). From «tread» = to step.