Idioms: Spokes and Wheels

[Peter Yates]

Hi,

Someone quoted an idiom to me today along the lines of putting a spoke in one's wheel.... we subsequently got into a discussion about this as, of course, wheels do have spokes. Is there an idiom to this effect, or are we misguided.

[Miner49'er]

I found this explanation

TO PUT A SPOKE IN ONE'S WHEEL -- "When you are not in accord with another person's plans or projects, you 'put a spoke in his wheel' by taking some action that will interfere with or impede his progress. The expression goes back to the sixteenth century and alluded to the use, by carters, of an extra spoke or bar which could be thrust between the spokes or wheel so that that wheel would drag and serve as a brake in descending a hill." From "2107 Curious Word Origins, Sayings & Expressions from White Elephants to a Song and Dance" by Charles Earle Funk (Galahad Book, New York, 1993).