How It's Used

“People who design highways don’t design them for a standard sedan, they design them for 18-wheelers, which demand the most space.”

—Reed Albergotti, “Building a Better Bike Path,” The Wall Street Journal, October 15-16, 2005, p. P10.

“Bee colonies have been under stress in recent years as more beekeepers have resorted to crisscrossing the country with 18-wheel trucks full of bees in search of pollination work. These bees may suffer from a diet that includes artificial supplements, concoctions akin to energy drinks and power bars. In several states, suburban sprawl has limited the bees’ natural forage areas.”

—Alexei Barrioneuvo, “Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons,” The New York Times, April 10, 2007.

“Immelt has compared his efforts to restructure that portfolio to changing a tire on a moving Ferrari. The image is arresting, but not quite right. GE is more like a lumbering 18-wheeler, which takes awhile to get up to speed but is hard to stop once it gets going.”

—Vito J. Racanelli, “GE’s Moment,” Barron’s, June 4, 2007.

“Life for these rental bees may be far worse than it is for the ones producing honey. The industrial pollinators face all the same hardships, plus a few more: They spend much of their lives sealed in the back of 18-wheelers, subsisting on a diet of high-fructose corn syrup as they're shipped back and forth across the country. Husbandry and breeding practices have reduced their genetic diversity and left them particularly susceptible to large-scale die-offs.”

—Daniel Engber, “The Great Vegan Honey Debate,” Slate, July 30, 2008.

Also Known As (AKA)

18-Wheel Trucks, 18-Wheelers

Links

Related on eAlmanac
Unicycle
Bicycle
Tricycle
Four-by-Four

Beyond eAlmanac
Wikipedia article on Semi-Trailer Trucks