wheel bit n. a privilege bit that allows the possessor to perform some
   restricted operation on a timesharing system, such as read or write any
   file on the system regardless of protections, change or look at any
   address in the running monitor, crash or reload the system, and kill or
   create jobs and user accounts. the term was invented on the tenex
   operating system, and carried over to tops-20, xerox-ifs, and others.
   the state of being in a privileged logon is sometimes called `wheel
   mode'. this term entered the unix culture from twenex in the mid-1980s
   and has been gaining popularity there esp. at university sites. see
   also root.


see also:
root 

wheel bit
     
        a privilege bit that allows the possessor to perform some
        restricted operation on a time-sharing system, such as read
        or write any file on the system regardless of protections,
        change or look at any address in the running monitor, crash or
        reload the system, and kill or create jobs and user accounts.
        the term was invented on the tenex operating system, and
        carried over to tops-20, xerox-ifs, and others.  the state of
        being in a privileged logon is sometimes called "wheel mode".
        this term entered the unix culture from twenex in the
        mid-1980s and has been gaining popularity there especially at
        university sites.  see also root.
     
     
see also:
time-sharing root