Editing Breaking wheel (section)

==Metaphorical uses==
The breaking wheel was also known as a great dishonor, and appeared in several expressions as such.  In [[Dutch language|Dutch]], there is the expression {{Lang|nl|opgroeien voor galg en rad}}, "to grow up for the gallows and wheel", meaning to be destined to come to no good. It is also mentioned in the Chilean expression ''{{Lang|es|morir en la rueda}}'', "to die on the wheel", meaning to keep silent about something. The Dutch expression {{Lang|nl|ik ben geradbraakt}}, literally "I have been broken on the wheel", is used to describe physical exhaustion and pain, like the [[German language|German]] expression {{Lang|de|sich gerädert fühlen}}, "to feel wheeled", and the [[Danish language|Danish]] expression {{Lang|da|radbrækket}} refers almost exclusively to physical exhaustion and great discomfort.

In Finnish ''teilata'', "to execute by the wheel", refers to forceful and violent critique or rejection of performance, ideas or innovations. The German verb {{Lang|de|radebrechen}} ("to break on the wheel") can refer to speaking incorrectly, for example with a strong foreign accent or with a great deal of foreign vocabulary. Similarly, the [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] ''{{Lang|no|radbrekke}}'' can be applied to art and language, and refers to use which is seen as despoiling tradition and courtesy, with connotations of willful ignorance or malice. In [[Swedish language|Swedish]], ''{{Lang|sv|rådbråka}}'' can be used in the same sense as the English idiom "[[:wikt:rack one's brain|rack one's brain]]" or, as in German, to mangle language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Svenska Akademiens Ordbok: Rådbråka |url=http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/show.phtml?filenr=1/223/158.html |access-date= 2011-12-12 |language=sv}}</ref>

The word {{lang|fr|roué}}, meaning a debauched or lecherous person, is French, and its original meaning was "broken on the wheel". As execution by breaking on the wheel in France and some other countries was reserved for crimes of particular atrocity, {{lang|fr|roué}} came by a natural process to be understood to mean a man morally worse than a "gallows-bird", a criminal who only deserved hanging for common crimes. He was also a leader in wickedness, since the chief of a gang of brigands (for instance) would be broken on the wheel, while his obscure followers were merely hanged. [[Philip II, Duke of Orléans|Philip, Duke of Orléans]], who was regent of France from 1715 to 1723, gave the term the sense of impious and callous debauchee, which it has borne since his time, by habitually applying it to the very bad male company who amused his privacy and his leisure. The ''[[locus classicus]]'' for the origin of this use of the epithet is in the Memoirs of [[Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon|Saint-Simon]].

Another French expression is {{lang|fr|rouer de coups}}, which means giving a severe beating to someone.

In English, the quotation "[[Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?]]" from [[Alexander Pope]]'s "[[Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot]]" is occasionally seen, referring to putting great effort into achieving something minor or unimportant.