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).
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).