Pro*pel"ler (?), n.
1.
One who, or that which, propels.
2.
A contrivance for propelling a steam vessel, usually consisting of a screw placed in the stern under water, and made to revolve by an engine; a propeller wheel.
<-- (b) an analogous device, rotated by an engine at high speed to provide the forward thrust which propels an airplane through the atmosphere. On each engine is a propeller consisting of a set of at least two elongated blades attached symmetrically to a central rotor. -->
3.
A steamboat thus propelled; a screw steamer.
Propeller wheel,the screw, usually having two or more blades, used in propelling a vessel.<-- propeller blade, the elongated part of an airplane propeller -->
© Webster 1913.