wheelhouse

noun

1. A building or other structure containing a (large) wheel, such as the water wheel of a mill.

   “A machine with two pair of moulds only, will make from fifty to seventy thousand bricks per week. But if the regular market be large, it can, by using a steam machine of 10 horse power, work sixteen moulds, (four on each side of the wheel house,) and make two hundred thousand bricks per week.”

   “The mill was driven by an overshot wheel twenty-seven and a half feet in diameter, placed in a separate wheel-house, built of stone, between the mill and a bank thirty feet high, upon which the water was brought by a canal.”

2. A building or other structure containing a (large) wheel, such as the water wheel of a mill.

   “This invention relates to an improved device for hanging the body of carriages having a so-called "cut-under" or wheel-house, such as a common rockaway, extension-top phaeton, coupé-rockaway, &c., [...]”

   “To install a new outer wheelhouse in a convertible, measure (at 1-in. intervals) the distance from the reinforcement that runs along the top of the old wheelhouse to the flange where the inner and outer wheelhouses are joined. Then transfer these measurements onto the new wheelhouse.”

3. A building or other structure containing a (large) wheel, such as the water wheel of a mill.

   “Captain Waterman was on the wheel-house at the time of the explosion, attending to the landing of passengers from the small boat. He noticed a movement over the boilers, and immediately jumped or was thrown upon the forward deck. He was somewhat bruised, but not seriously injured.”

   “The wheel-house is a small room or closet, with windows in front, built on the deck, in the forward part of the boat, where the helmsman stands to steer. The windows in the front of the wheel-house are for him to look out, and see where he is going. [...] There is a large wheel in this place, which is the reason why they call it the wheel-house. The wheel has handles to it, all around, for the man to take hold of, to turn the wheel one way or the other.”

   “Affiant further states that thereupon Judge-Advocate Portocarrero, closely followed by Minister Madriz, rushed into the wheelhouse of the steamship Yulu. They were both white with anger, and Portocarrero had in his right hand, with his finger on the spring, a clasp knife with a blade about 8 inches long.”

   “I last saw William Saunders, the mate of the said vessel, alive on the morning of August the 6th, 1897, on the left side of the forecastle head of that vessel. It was between nine and ten o'clock of that morning. He was shot at that time and place by John Andersen, the cook of the vessel and the prisoner here. I saw him shoot him. I was at the wheel of the vessel, in the wheelhouse, just aft of the aftercabin.”

   “Early the next morning Leander walked down the fish-smelling path to the wharf where the Topaze lay. A dozen passengers were waiting to buy their tickets and go aboard. Then he noticed a sign had been hung on his wheelhouse. [...] no trespassing, it said. this yacht for sale. for further information see honora wapshot 27 boat street.”

4. A building or other structure containing a (large) wheel, such as the water wheel of a mill.

   “PLATE XXVII.—Details of the Paddle Wheel of the Steamboat "North America." Fig. 1, shows the outside framing of the paddle-box, or as it is frequently termed, the wheel-house; also an elevation of the paddle-wheel, shewing the arrangement of the buckets, arms, centre-plate, &c.”

   “These little rooms have each a half glass door, which opens on a gallery running all round the boat, with only the interruption of the wheel-houses, outside of which is a door of Venetian blinds, which being thrown open, you can sit in your room and see every object on one side of the river.”

   “The Eureka broke an arm in her larboard wheel[-]house with a tremendous crash, tearing the whole structure away. She crawled back to the city to refit.—Journal Com. April 10.”

5. A prehistoric structure from the Iron Age found in Scotland, characteristically including an outer wall within which a circle of stone piers (resembling the spokes of a wheel) form the basis for lintel arches supporting corbelled roofing with a hearth at the hub.

   “Ancestors of the historical Picts can be credited with the structural form of the wheelhouse with its western and northern affinities, and with the souterrain, and distribution and function of which is becoming clearer, but which may now be thought to have persisted in evolved form until the middle part of the first millennium AD [...].”

6. (Canada, US, broadly)A pitch location which is favourable to the hitter.

   “The pitch was right in his wheelhouse, and he hit a grand slam.”

   “The ball was up in my wheelhouse, and I got round on it, got the meat of that Ritchie Ashburn bottle bat solidly on the ball. I'll never in my life hit a ball any better.”

   “The next pitch was close to my wheelhouse so I just let 'er rip. I got ahold of it and shot it to left field on the line.”

   “Here is the ball, in my wheelhouse. I slide my hips out of the way, put myself in place to hit the coldie of a lifetime.”

7. (Canada, US, figuratively)A person's area of authority or expertise.

   “Horse viruses are in Pat’s wheelhouse.”

   “Turning out terrific subordinates was not in her wheelhouse. [...] But she did so, mostly by force of will and with a number of false starts and midcourse corrections, and went on to become an icon in her industry.”

   “I watched as Vic digested the information. His career was built on analyzing intel and making tactical decisions, and this was right in his wheelhouse.”

   “If an app is entertaining, and especially if it contains age-appropriate humor, that increases its appeal. You just need to keep the learning in a Digitod's [i.e., a digital toddler's] wheelhouse (for you non-baseball fans, that's his prime area of ability).”

   “Similarly, it has been beyond the scope of health care providers or other Intermediaries to address well-being. These concerns and measures are simply not in their wheelhouses and not high on their priority lists.”

8. (Canada, US, figuratively)A set of skills necessitated by a situation.

   “Ever since I started taking antipsychotics, managing my mental health has been a whole different wheelhouse.”