pedal
noun
- any foot rest used in the operation of human powered machinery
verb
- make a bicycle go
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L339165 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈpɛdəl/ / /ˈpiːdəl/
adj
Etymology: Borrowed from French pédale, Latin pedāl(is). By surface analysis, ped- + -al.
- Of or relating to the foot.
noun
Etymology: Borrowed from French pédale, Latin pedāl(is). By surface analysis, ped- + -al.
- A lever operated by one's foot that is used to control or power a machine or mechanism, such as a bicycle or piano.
“There are three pedals on manual cars, two on automatics.”
“A piano usually has two or three pedals.”
- an orthopedic structure or a footlike part.
- An effects unit, especially one designed to be activated by being stepped on.
- A stirrup.
- The ranks of pipes played from the pedal-board of an organ.
“A small organ commonly has only one or two ranks on the pedal.”
verb
Etymology: Borrowed from French pédale, Latin pedāl(is). By surface analysis, ped- + -al.
- To operate a pedal attached to a wheel in a continuous circular motion.
“to pedal one's loom”
- To operate a bicycle.
“He was out of breath from pedalling up the steep hill.”
“In the 1890’s “women were behind the stove,” he relates. But they cycled, too. “And they had difficulty pedalling bicycles with ankle-length skirts. “At the time,” Taylor said, “the most sinful thing a woman could do was to show light between her legs. “The original culotte was designed by a LAW member’s wife. The churches (in the East) termed this bepantsed female activity of biking “sinful bicycling,” he noted.”