wheel of Fortune

English

Alternative forms

Proper noun

wheel of Fortune

  1. (mythology, philosophy) The mythological wheel whose turns, which are random, determine men’s fortunes.
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
      I hold the Fates bound faſt in yron chaines,
      And with my hand turne Fortunes wheel about,
      And ſooner ſhall the Sun fall from his Spheare,
      Than Tamburlaine be ſlaine or ouercome.
    • 1895, Marie Corelli, The Sorrows of Satan, →OCLC, page 8:
      I was young enough not to part with hope too easily; — the vague idea I had that my turn would come, — that the ever-circling wheel of Fortune would perchance lift me up some day as it now crushed me down, […]
  2. A particular card in a tarot deck.

Usage notes
  • Used with a determiner, especially “the”.

Translations

Further reading
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