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Fifth Wheel

A person who is really not needed by others and is ignored by them

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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Katherine does not have any role in the kitchen team; she is just a fifth wheel.

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Submitted on February 25, 2019

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.
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Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to Fifth Wheel

asleep at the wheelbig wheelput one's shoulder to the wheelbutterfly upon a wheelthe squeaky wheel gets the grease/oilbehind the wheelreinvent the wheelplead the fifthplead the fifthset one's shoulder to the wheelthe wheel turnstake the fifthferris wheelGerman wheel

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