wheelhouse

1. (archaeology) A prehistoric structure from the Iron Age found in Scotland, characteristically including an outer wall within which a circle of stone piers (resembling the spokes of a wheel) form the basis for lintel arches supporting corbelled roofing with a hearth at the hub.Examples: "Most Celtic houses in Britain were simply constructed. They were generally round as in the remains of the house at Little Woodbury in Wiltshire, the wheelhouse at Jarlshof in Shetland, or the house on an unenclosed platform at Greenknowe in Berwickshire. [...] The roof of the Greenknowe house was conical. It had rafters fanning outwards from a high top, like the spokes of an umbrella. You can see why it is called a wheelhouse. The rafters were held at their lower ends on a horizontal ring of timber that rested on vertical posts with Y-shaped tops."; "Ancestors of the historical Picts can be credited with the structural form of the wheelhouse with its western and northern affinities, and with the souterrain, and distribution and function of which is becoming clearer, but which may now be thought to have persisted in evolved form until the middle part of the first millennium AD [...]."

2. (Canada, US, baseball, by extension from sense 1.2) A pitch location which is favourable to the hitter.Examples: "The pitch was right in his wheelhouse, and he hit a grand slam."; "The ball was up in my wheelhouse, and I got round on it, got the meat of that Ritchie Ashburn bottle bat solidly on the ball. I'll never in my life hit a ball any better."; "The next pitch was close to my wheelhouse so I just let 'er rip. I got ahold of it and shot it to left field on the line."CanadaUSbroadly

3. (Canada, US, figuratively) A person's area of authority or expertise.Examples: "Horse viruses are in Pat’s wheelhouse."; "Turning out terrific subordinates was not in her wheelhouse. [...] But she did so, mostly by force of will and with a number of false starts and midcourse corrections, and went on to become an icon in her industry."; "I watched as Vic digested the information. His career was built on analyzing intel and making tactical decisions, and this was right in his wheelhouse."Synonyms: bailiwick, domainCanadaUSfiguratively

4. (Canada, US, figuratively) A set of skills necessitated by a situation.Examples: "Ever since I started taking antipsychotics, managing my mental health has been a whole different wheelhouse."CanadaUSfiguratively