词源 |
wheeler dealer. In gaming houses of the 18th-century Amer- ican West a big wheeler and dealer was a heavy bettor at cards and the roulette wheels. Through this tradition, and the associ- ation of a big wheel as the man (or wheel) who makes the vehi- cle (things) run, the expression came to mean a big-time opera- tor by the early 1940s, usually with an unsavory connotation, the wheeler dealer being the type who runs over anything in his path with no regard for rules of the road. |