car, n.1
View as:
Forms:
ME care, ME–16 carre, ME– car, 16–17 carr, 20– kear (Jamaican); also Sc. pre-17 caar, pre-17 kar, pre-17 ker; U.S. regional 18– kyar, 19– caa, 19– cyaa', 19– cyaar, 19– cyar, 19– kear. (Show Less)
Etymology:
< Anglo-Norman and Old French (northern) carr, carre, Middle French car (c1100), variant of Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French char (French char : see char n.2) < classical Latin carrus , carrum , post-classical Latin carra (from 8th cent. in British and continental sources) kind of two-wheeled wagon for transporting burdens < the Celtic base of Gaulish carro- wheeled vehicle (in e.g. the place name Καρρόδουνον ), Early Irish carr wagon, chariot (Irish carr , Scottish Gaelic càr , both denoting various kinds of vehicles, now also specifically ‘motor car’), Welsh car vehicle, car < the same Indo-European base as classical Latin currere to run (see current adj.); compare currus chariot. Compare Old Occitan car , Catalan carro (14th cent.), Spanish carro (13th cent. or earlier), Portuguese carro (13th cent.), Italian carro (early 14th cent.), also Middle Dutch carre (Dutch kar ), Middle Low German kāre , karre , Old High German karra , karro (Middle High German karre , karren , German Karre , Karren ), and ( < Middle Low German) Danish karre (already in early modern Danish), all denoting kinds of wagons or carts, but not usually motor vehicles; compare further in similar senses Middle Dutch kerre (rare), Old Icelandic kerra , Old Swedish kärra (Swedish kärra ), Old Danish kærre (Danish kærre ). Compare char n.2
Specific senses. In sense 1c apparently after Scottish Gaelic càr sledge, specific use of càr vehicle. In sense 4 apparently originally rendering French voiture motor car (1893; also frequently used in the source translated in quot. 1896), specific use of voiture (wheeled) vehicle (see voiture n.). Compare slightly earlier motor car n. 2 and autocar at auto- comb. form2 . Possible earlier surname evidence. Perhaps attested earlier in surnames: Henry Carman (1275), Stephen Careman (1287), Johanne Careman (1301), but it is uncertain whether these are to be interpreted as earlier examples of carman n.2 (which has car n.1 as its first element) or as reflecting the unrelated carman n.1 The absence of an article in the earliest examples may argue for the latter interpretation, but compare (with article) Galfr. le Carman (1327). Perhaps compare also the earlier surname Charman (e.g. Robertus Chareman (1183), William le Charman (1293)), which may show the related char n.2 as its first element, but a derivation from the unrelated chare n.1 has also been suggested; some instances may alternatively show variants of carman n.1
1. a. A wheeled, usually horse-drawn conveyance; a carriage, cart, or wagon. In later use chiefly with modifying words. Compare jaunting-car n. Now rare.Applied locally and at certain times to various specific vehicles; spec. in Ireland, an Irish car.
a. A wheeled, usually horse-drawn conveyance; a carriage, cart, or wagon. In later use chiefly with modifying words. Compare jaunting-car n. Now rare.Applied locally and at certain times to various specific vehicles; spec. in Ireland, an Irish car. In quot. 1832: a miniature carriage or truck used in experiments, etc. Recorded earliest in car clout n. at Compounds 3.
c1320 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham
(1899)
II. 514 (MED),
In 24 Carcloutis cum clavis pro eisdem.
?a1425
(▸c1400)
Mandeville's Trav.
(Titus C.xvi)
(1919)
83
Ȝif the snow ne were men myght not gon vp on the yse ne hors ne carre nouþer.
1480 Wardrobe Accts. Edward IV in N. H. Nicolas Privy Purse Expenses Elizabeth of York
(1830)
122
For cariage..of the Kinges carre..frome Grenewiche.
1540 T. Cromwell Let. 26 Jan. in Lisle Lett.
(modernized text)
(1981)
VI. 14
That in the carts and cars coming in to the same..there be not brought in weapon.
1576 Act 18 Eliz. x. §4
Cars or Drags, furnished for..Repairing..Highways.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxv. xiii. 556
They sent little above forty carres [L. vehicula].
1611 Bible
(King James)
1 Esdras v. 55
They gaue carres that they should bring Cedar trees from Libanus.
1716 London Gaz. No. 5446/2,
Carts, Drays, Carrs and Waggons.
1750 W. Beawes Lex Mercatoria
(1752)
399
Merchants, and others that use Carrs or Carts.
1780 A. Young Tour Ireland i. 45
The hire of a car, and horse, and driver, ten pence a day.
1832 D. Brewster Lett. Nat. Magic iv. 87
The living object AB, the mirror MN, and the lens LL, must all be placed in a moveable car for the purpose of producing the variations in the size of the phantasms.
1885 Evening News 25 July 2/6,
I then untackled the horse from the car.
1888 N.E.D. at Car,
Mod. In some provincial towns (e.g. Birmingham) ‘car’ means a four-wheeled hackney carriage, ‘cab’ meaning a hansom.
1904 W. H. Mallock Veil of Temple vii. ii. 371
I telegraphed over night to your agent, that an Irish car should be sent here... The car is here.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. 563
The car and horse..turn. Corny Kelleher on the sideseat sways his head to and fro in sign of mirth at Bloom's plight.
c1320—1922(Hide quotations)
b. Chiefly literary and poet. A chariot, esp. of war, triumph, splendour, or pageantry; spec. the chariot of Phaethon or the sun, or that in which the moon, stars, day, night, or time are said to ride.north, northern car: see the first element.
c1350 Psalter
(BL Add. 17376)
in K. D. Bülbring Earliest Compl. Eng. Prose Psalter
(1891)
xix. 8
Hij in carres [L. curribus], and hij in horses, and we shul herien þe name of God.
▸a1382 Bible
(Wycliffite, E.V.)
(Douce 369(1))
(1850)
Isa. lxvi. 15
The Lord in fyr shal come, and as a whirlewynd his foure horsid carres [L. quadrigae].
1565 T. Norton & T. Sackville Gorboduc ii. i. sig. Bvii,
Lo suche are they nowe in the Royall throne As was rashe Phaeton in Phebus Carre.
1597 Shakespeare Richard III v. iv. 2
The wearie sonne..by the bright tracke of his fierie Carre.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost ix. 65
Four times [he] cross'd the Carr of Night.
1697 Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 120
To draw the Carr of Jove's Imperial Queen.
1737 R. Glover Leonidas iii. 133
The king arose. ‘No more; prepare my car.’
1759 Johnson Idler 7 Apr. 105
A slave was placed on the triumphal car.
1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington 55
And a reverent people behold The towering car, the sable steeds.
1853 F. W. Robertson Serm. 3rd Ser. vii. 93
Whose body opposing the progress of the car of Juggernaut is crushed beneath its monstrous wheels.
1951 L. P. Hartley My Fellow Devils xxxii. 344
They were both silent, listening to the rumbling of the wheels of their ordeal as like the car of Juggernaut it lumbered nearer.
1977 R. Strong Cult Elizabeth i. 36
Elizabeth is being pushed along from behind on some sort of triumphal car with a chair of state upon it.
c1350—1977(Hide quotations)
c. A vehicle resembling a cart without wheels; a sleigh. rare (in later use Sc. and Canad. regional (Newfoundland)).In early use app. associated with the conveyance of criminals: compare cart n. 2c, hurdle n. 1c.
1488
(1478)
Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace
(Adv.)
(1968–9)
ii. l. 263
On a caar wnlikly thai him cast.
1773 J. Boswell Jrnl. 21 Sept. in Jrnl. Tour Hebrides
(1785)
288
They have also a few sleds, or cars, as we call them in Ayrshire, clumsily made.
1927 Trans. Dumfries & Galloway Nat. Hist. & Antiq. Soc. 1925–6 20
Car, a rude cart without wheels for bringing in peats and hay.
1937 in P. K. Devine Devine's Folk Lore Newfoundland 13
He tackled the horse to the car.
1488—1937(Hide quotations)
2.
a. The passenger compartment of a balloon, airship, cableway, etc.; a gondola.
1783 Scots Mag. Dec. 653/1
They then descended so low as to skim along the surface of the ground... Seeing a hill before them, they cast some of their superfluous cloathing out of the car, and thus cleared the eminence.
1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. III. xxxiv. 448
(Of Air Balloons) To this a sort of car, or rather boat, was suspended by ropes.
1822 T. Webster Imison's Elem. Sci. & Art
(new ed.)
I. 171
The car, or boat, is made of wicker-work covered with leather.
1893 Electr. Engineer 10 Nov. 434/2
A scheme..to run an aerial flight across the Dyke by means of a car suspended on a cable.
1919 H. Shaw Text-bk. Aeronaut. xvii. 198
In the Parseval type [of airship], the car is suspended from a large elliptical rigging band just below the centre of the envelope.
1950 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms
(B.S.I.)
i. 46
Observation balloon, a balloon fitted with a basket or car to carry passengers.
1999 S. Zielinski tr. G. Custance Audiovisions i. 28
Ten cameras, weighing a total of 500 kilograms, were positioned in a circle in the car of a balloon.
1783—1999(Hide quotations)
b. Chiefly U.S. The passenger compartment or cage of an elevator or lift.
1847 Rep. Comm. Patents 1846
(U.S.)
1542
Attachment of a suspending rope of an elevator car by means of an intermediate device.
1870 Gold Hill
(Nevada)
News 25 Aug.,
The cable fell..upon the car and cage.
1904 N.Y. Evening Post 2 Feb. 2
The elevator man seemed to lose control of the elevator at the fifth floor. The car made a sheer drop from the fourth story to the basement.
1943 D. Baker Trio iii. 171
When leaving car, close car gate and landing door, otherwise elevator becomes inoperative.
2008 New Yorker 21 Apr. 107/3
Another line, the governor cable, is connected to a device that detects if the elevator car is descending at a rate twenty-five per cent faster than its maximum designed speed.
1847—2008(Hide quotations)
3. Chiefly N. Amer. a. A railway carriage or wagon (freq. with distinguishing word). Also: a streetcar or tramcar.Formerly the usual sense in North America (sense 4 being more usually expressed by motor car or other words).
a. A railway carriage or wagon (freq. with distinguishing word). Also: a streetcar or tramcar.Formerly the usual sense in North America (sense 4 being more usually expressed by motor car or other words). coal, dining, freight, observation, parlour, passenger, petroleum, restaurant, sleeping, tool-car, etc.: see the first element. In Brit. non-technical use chiefly as the second element in compounds relating to the conveyance of passengers.
1826 Laws Commonw. Mass. 4 Mar. c. 183 §5, p. 331
The conveyance of stone and other property, in their cars and vehicles on said railways.
1837 H. Martineau Society in Amer. II. 181
During my last trip on the Columbia and Philadelphia rail road, a lady in the car had a shawl burned to destruction on her shoulders.
1846 E. Loomis Treat. on Algebra 86
A train of cars moving at the rate of 20 miles per hour, had been gone three hours, when a second train was started at the rate of 25 miles per hour.
1873 C. M. Yonge Pillars of House IV. xlv. 274
Even Pullman's cars shook him.
1890 Electrical Engineer 17 Jan. 50/2
The Lea Bridge, Leyton, and Walthamstow Tram Co., in view of having to get fresh tenders for horsing its cars, is prepared to enter into a contract with any electrical engineering company of repute to install electric traction upon its lines.
1916 Daily Colonist
(Victoria, Brit. Columbia)
9 July 6/3
The picnic party left the Gorge terminus during the early forenoon in the special sight-seeing car of the B.C. Electric Railway.
a1930 D. H. Lawrence Phoenix II
(1968)
252
One sits in the breakfast car in the train, coming to London... In America the Pullmans..don't shake like our cars.
1940 R. Wright Native Son ii. 127
He waited ten minutes for a car and none came.
1991 J. DeMont Citizens Irving
(1992)
iii.41
By 1935 Saint John's transit system consisted of 23 miles of streetcar tracks and 34 cars, almost all of which were in poor repair.
2004 N.Y. Times
(National ed.)
15 Jan. e1/2
Most Amtrak trains have a ‘quiet car’ where phone calls and even loud talking are banned in favor of monastic silence.
1826—2004(Hide quotations)
b. As many or as much as a railway car will hold; a carload of freight transported by railway.
1851 Daily Scioto
(Chillicothe, Ohio)
Gaz. 29 Dec.,
We notice on the 21st November the Engine ‘Shelby’..hauled to Sandusky..a train of thirty two large cars, with the following freight..22 Cars Wheat.
1869 Trans. Illinois Agric. Soc. 1867–9 7 446
A farmer had far better send..one car of good sheep in the twelve months, than six cars of..bad breed.
1902 G. H. Lorimer Lett. Merchant 133
The last car of lard was so strong that it came back of its own accord from every retailer they shipped it to.
1948 Green Bay
(Wisconsin)
Press-Gaz. 30 June 23/4
Receipts were: wheat 38 cars, corn 83, oats 34 and soy~beans 9.
2002 F. LeBar When Days Were Not Long Enough ix. 97
A car of flour cost $1200, a car of corn $800, a car of wheat $1600, a car of oats $700.
1851—2002(Hide quotations)
4. = motor car n. 2.Now the usual sense.
1896 L. Serraillier tr. D. Farman Auto-cars 132
The latter drove with a daring which may have been dangerous to himself, but which never affected his car.
1900 W. W. Beaumont Motor Vehicles I. 615
Hill-climbing trials alone would not of course be sufficient as a test of the wearing power or durability of a car.
1913 Sat. Evening Post 22 Feb. 19/1
Some crooks in a motor stopped his car in the tunnel, laid out the jeweler and his chauffeur and got away with the goods.
1948 A. Huxley Ape & Essence
(1949)
i. 12
He threw the car into gear and we were off.
1967 S. Terkel Division Street i. 32
One guy was driving sixty miles an hour... Boom, right into another car. The second car looked like an accordion.
2005 Stuff Aug. 147/2
Toyota's Prius is a steady seller; if someone makes a hybrid car that looks cool, we'll be congestion-charge free and better off.
1896—2005(Hide quotations)
Compounds
C1.
a. General attrib. and objective, as car industry, car journey, car theft, car travel, etc.Until the early 20th cent. chiefly with reference to railway cars (see sense 3); now more usually with reference to motor cars (see sense 4).
1659 J. Bland Trade Revived 32
The sixth meanes to ease and incourage trade and traders is, that the great trouble and vexations which they lye under, by reason of Car Porters, and wharfingers may be removed.
1841 N.Y. Herald 25 June 2/5
At Syracuse take the packet boats (by way of relief from car travel).
1849 S. G. Goodrich First. Bk. Hist.
(ed. 4)
v. 22/2
Here you will see a car factory, where they make the convenient and splendid cars that are used on railroads.
1862 Morning Post 4 Feb. 2/5
All the sneering of the Ultramontane journalists about Sir Robert Peel's rapid car-journey through the West has availed nothing.
1880 Isle of Man Times 26 June 5/4
The car industry of this town is a most important one.
1922 Lethbridge
(Alberta)
Herald 22 Sept. 7/4
The government is not contemplating any drastic action to compel car users to give up riding for pleasure or recreation.
1931 Times 30 May 14/1
(heading)
Youths sentenced for car theft.
1942 Pop. Mech. Mag. Feb. 149/1
When a starting motor fails to crank the car engine properly, the trouble will most commonly be found not in the motor itself.
1961 B. P. Pashigian Distribution of Automobiles viii. 227
Data showing the distribution of car sales by size of city are practically non-existent.
1978 Boating Apr. 35/1
Car speakers haven't exactly been noted for high performance or high fidelity.
1989 S. Walklate Victimology v. 122
A further third of victims of both burglary and car theft wanted compensation.
1995 Daily Tel. 17 Nov. 19/2
Work is still the main cause of car travel.
1999 M. Hulse tr. W. G. Sebald Vertigo
(2000)
ii. 89
A vertiginous feeling came over me as it used to in my childhood, when any car journey would make me feel sick.
2012 Tasmanian Country
(Nexis)
3 Feb. 17
The job losses that would follow if the car industry collapsed.
1659—2012(Hide quotations)
b.
car alarm n.
1956 Times 20 Apr. 1/7
Save 5 per cent. to 25 per cent. on..insurance by fitting the ‘Selmar’ anti-thief car alarm.
2012 K. Hearne Tricked 176
She locked the door using her key fob, activating the car alarm.
1956—2012(Hide quotations)
car axle n.
1836 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 17 437
Carriage and car axle.
1876 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2011/1
Saddle,..4. (Railway.) a. The bearing or brass resting on the journal of a car-axle in the axle-box.
1950 Pop. Sci. Dec. 84/1
Wheels at opposite ends of a car axle were insulated from each other, preventing a short-circuit.
2010 Philadelphia Daily News
(Nexis)
18 Nov. (Editorial opinion section) 21
A man owned property where dogs were chained to car axles half-buried in the woods.
1836—2010(Hide quotations)
car body n.
1807 T. J. Rawson Statist. Surv. County of Kildare 228
Strip off the iron and pin-planks round the wheels; on the car-body any necessary weight may be placed.
1838 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 1 390/1
The truck is guided by the carbody with..mathematical precision.
1959 New Statesman 1 Aug. 141/1
A car-body firm.
1993 Albuquerque
(New Mexico)
Jrnl. 2 Dec. 10/4
This year nostalgia covered everything—the way rust covers an old car body, the way kudzu covers a field and obliterates all the sharp, clear lines.
1807—1993(Hide quotations)
car buffer n.
1864 Sabbath Recorder
(N.Y.)
28 Apr. 67/5
A car buffer is in use on the Great Western Railway.
1949 Code of Federal Regulations
(U.S.)
95
Caught by passenger car buffer or foot plate.
1864—1949(Hide quotations)
car bumper n.
1852 Sci. Amer. 13 Mar. 205/3
A is the platform, commonly called the car-bumper, at each end of the cars.
1939 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 45/3
Snow scraper fastens to any car bumper.
2011 D. Leclaire Claimed 158
Her brakes squealed and the car bumper bounced to a stop inches from his kneecaps.
1852—2011(Hide quotations)
car-carrying adj.
1959 Times 10 June 9/7
The Boulogne–Lyons car-carrying trains.
2002 Mercury
(Hobart)
(Nexis)
18 Oct. 58
You need to move 36 pantechs (huge car-carrying trucks), a quarter of a billion dollars worth of equipment, [etc].
1959—2002(Hide quotations)
car chase n.
1922 N.Y. Times 11 May 9/1
(headline)
Judge's wife steps on gas in car chase.
2006 H. O'Neill Lullabies for Little Criminals 172
I'd been planning on telling the kids in school that I'd been in a high-speed car chase and that the car had turned over.
1922—2006(Hide quotations)
car conductor n.
1844 Ann. Rep. Board Canal Commissioners 56/2
(table)
in Rep. Heads Dept. to Governor
(Pennsylvania)
,
Car Conductor.
1876 Scribner's Monthly Apr. 911/2
There were addresses..relating to the..car-conductor.
1982 D. M. Katzman & W. M. Tuttle Plain Folk iv. 17
A car conductor must never fail to be on time for the public.
1844—1982(Hide quotations)
car construction n.
1856 Ann. Sci. Discov. 62
Mr. C. R. Disbrow, of Bath, New York, is the inventor of a very desirable improvement in car construction.
1907 Westm. Gaz. 28 Aug. 4/2
The whole lines of car-construction are changing.
2004 V. Knowles From Telegrapher to Titan iv. 84
Van Horne also put his fertile mind to work in another area—car construction. On his frequent visits to the company's car shops he often passed on new ideas to the car builders.
1856—2004(Hide quotations)
car coupling n.
1847 W. C. Bussey U.S. Patent 5,194
(caption)
Car Coupling.
1874 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. (at cited word),
Car-coupling, in Europe the connection is more intimate, the cars being coupled together so firmly as to prevent the jar as the cars collide or jerk apart in stopping or starting.
1921 Pop. Mech. Dec. 814/2
Automatic hose coupling is as desirable as automatic car coupling on railroads.
2005 H. R. Grant Railroad ii. 59
The dramatic breakthrough in the technology of car coupling occurred with the development of the ‘Janney’ or ‘knuckle’ coupler.
1847—2005(Hide quotations)
car dealer n.
1888 Engineering 17 Aug. 162/2
Every railroad almost in the country is either increasing its motive power or making extensive repairs. The car dealers are as busy as heretofore.
1910 Scotsman 9 June 10/4
A prominent Edinburgh car dealer.
2012 M. C. Batt Sugarhouse 108
It would be like a car dealer having no cars, just the keys.
1888—2012(Hide quotations)
car dealership n.
1924 Capital Times
(Madison, Wisconsin)
12 Apr. 3/3
If selling a car was all there is to car dealership, no automobile store today would include any other equipment than a desk and some stationary.
1925 San Antonio
(Texas)
Light 4 Oct. v. 3/2
(heading)
New S. A. car dealership.
2005 Sydney Morning Herald 10 Aug. (Money section) 2/2
Twelve years on, he can wander into a car dealership with his chequebook and drive away with a BMW.
1924—2005(Hide quotations)
car-dependent adj.
1958 Pop. Mech. Feb. 170/2
A car-dependent society in which the husband needs a car to drive to work and the wife needs one to get to town.
2011 W. DeBuys Great Aridness vii. 174
Some analysts predicted the emergence of a new generation of suburban slums and the death of gas-guzzling, car-dependent, long-commute suburban lifestyles.
1958—2011(Hide quotations)
car door n.
1838 New Yorker 24 Mar. 88/2
They scarcely perceived that the driver had pulled up the horse, till he came round and opened the car door.
1863 ‘G. Hamilton’ Gala-days 22
The heads of the two columns collide near the car-door.
1958 J. Barth End of Road xii. 218
Rennie bounded gracelessly ahead of me down the sidewalk, and opened the car door before I could do it for her.
1990 Weekly World News 4 Dec. 26/3
He complained they'd broken the lock on his car door!
1838—1990(Hide quotations)
car drive n.
1871 Shamrock 2 Sept. 740/2
There is a social charm connected with a car drive appreciated by all but the utterly selfish.
1924 A. Geikie Long Life's Work 220
We had long walks and still longer car-drives.
1994 Toronto Life Aug. 44/1
The rest of the time they live in a rambling Georgian house in Port Hope, situated an hour's car-drive east of Toronto.
1871—1994(Hide quotations)
car driver n.
1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck,
Karre-drijver, a Carre-driver, or a Carter.
1845 A. M. Hall Whiteboy iv,
The car-driver managed to push his poor starveling to a canter.
1892 Charities Rev. Jan. 115
What relaxation or excitement can a car-driver or a sweat-shop tailor get except by drinking?
1938 Boys' Life July 21
There's a lot more to learning how to be a good car driver than just sitting behind the wheel!
2011 Daily Tel. 24 Jan. 10
(advt.)
All car drivers in London should be aware that unauthorised Volvo DRIVe boot badges are being offered for sale.
1648—2011(Hide quotations)
car-fare n.
1854 Boston Daily Atlas 18 Nov. 3
They can attend the ‘lectures on slavery’ this winter, returning home in a train on the Worcester road at the close of the lectures, at an expense to each gentleman of only $10,50 for lecture tickets and car fare during the entire course.
1900 Dial. Notes 2 16
A fish-scale..is the nickel with which a [Yale] student pays his car-fare.
1993 R. Shell iCED 106,
I didn't even have enough for car-fare or lunch.
1854—1993(Hide quotations)
car ferry n.
[1868 H. M. Flint Railroads of U.S. xv. 168
The Company has recently completed and launched a new car ferry boat.]
1884 H. Hall in Rep. U.S. Census of 1880 VIII. 221
Side-wheel car-ferry Transport..with three railroad tracks on deck.
1898 Strand Mag. Apr. 443/2
The..necessity for appeasing the ire of passengers, who were compelled in the old days to change from train to ferry-boat, and then to train again, is the real reason for the existence of the car ferry.
1955 ‘Lory’ Brit. Railways' Sands across Sea 264
A Car Ferry Terminal has been constructed at..Dover.
2003 I. Banks Raw Spirit
(2004)
i. 12
Even the pier's surface has disappeared once you go beyond the car ferry's ro-ro ramp.
1884—2003(Hide quotations)
car heater n.
1868 Ann. Rep. Amer. Inst. 1867-8 710
Mr. Gibson also exhibited his patent car heater.
1939–40 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 266/1
Car heater..A robust and reliable heater.
1998 I. Welsh Filth 9
The car heater's warming up nicely.
1868—1998(Hide quotations)
car hire n.
1816 W. S. Mason Statist. Acct. Irel. II. xxxiv. 547
The prices of labour are from 10d. to 1s. 1d. per day; horse and car hire 2s 8 1/2s. per day.
1959 Listener 31 Dec. 1156/1
Even car-hire services possess a long ancestry.
2000 E. Hunt et al. South Pacific 71/2
About $30 per day will allow you to..have a pretty good time in Samoa (mid-range accommodation, car hire and some restauranting).
1816—2000(Hide quotations)
car horn n.
1905 Cook County
(Illinois)
Herald 1 Sept.,
The car horn barked savagely at an impeding wagon.
2011 K. Higgins My One & Only 321
From the street below, a car horn honked.
1905—2011(Hide quotations)
car horse n. [compare cart-horse n.]
1469 in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ.
(1790)
99
Item, v carre horses and ii keepers.
1609 T. Dekker Guls Horne-bk. ii. 11
The Sunnes Car-horses stand prancing on the very top of highest noone.
1800 M. Edgeworth Orphans in Parent's Assistant
(ed. 3)
V. 68
He had been used..to lead car-horses.
1888 H. H. Kane in H. Marks Bk. Dope Stories
(2001)
i. 28
The dirty streets, the tinking car-horse bell, the deafening ‘Here you Are! Twenty sweet oranges for a quarter!’
1907 M. H. Norris Veil v. 38
A car-horse, sore-footed and generally weather-beaten..completed this part of his purchase.
1469—1907(Hide quotations)
car house n.
1400 in M. T. Löfvenberg Contrib. Middle Eng. Lexicogr. & Etymol.
(1946)
92 (MED),
[The stable with the] carhous.
1806 Times 8 Sept. 1/3
A large convenient Farm-house..with double barns, stables, car-house, and other conveniences.
1888 New Eng. Mag. Oct. 560
A steam-dummy started from the car-house with a motor car and a large open car to convey them to the road.
1996 J. Doran Red Doran 56
There was only one car in the Isle which came out only on Sundays for going to Mass, while the rest of the week it was in the car house.
1400—1996(Hide quotations)
car insurance n.
1909 N.-China Herald 17 Apr. 133/2
To one of these matters by means of circulars you have had your attention drawn already—the subject of car insurance.
2011 M. O'Connell Sharp Time 71,
I would receive enough social security to pay for utility bills and car insurance and groceries.
1909—2011(Hide quotations)
car key n.
1939 Life 3 Apr. 3
(advt.)
If you want to ‘go stepping’ in a big way this spring and summer—and for many a month to come—here's your ‘car-key’ to the city and the entire country!
1962 M. Kelly Due to Death vii. 123,
I dropped the car key in the table drawer.
2010 Daily Post
(Liverpool)
(Nexis)
2 Oct. 11
North Wales Police warned motorists not to leave their car keys downstairs when they go to bed at night.
1939—2010(Hide quotations)
car lamp n.
1863 Ann. Rep. Amer. Inst. 1862-3 506
Mr Ambrose also presented his car lamp, which was burned without an inside chimney.
1920 Times 24 Nov. 13/7
Crossing the bridge, we were stopped by about five soldiers, and the man with the holster had to show our papers by the light of the car lamp.
1993 Independent 20 Jan. 5/8
Car lamps, probably for some ‘Euro’ reason are now car lights and all reference to hitch-hiking and thumbing a lift along the motorway have been expunged.
1863—1993(Hide quotations)
carload n.
1567 in Trans. Shropshire Archæol. Soc.
(1881)
5 7
Their one admytion of v markes & xxti carre loades of fyrewood out of the schole landes.
1642 N. Bernard Siege of Drogheda Thomason Tracts CX. No. 1. 43
A hundred of them under the shelter of some Carr loades of Furres.
1854 H. D. Thoreau Walden 40,
I do not see in my mind any retinue at their heels, any car-load of fashionable furniture.
1958 R. Godden Greengage Summer vi. 72
The car-loads and char-à-bancs of visitors.
2007 Hello! 17 July 74/3
On Wednesday, as she was driving through London in heavy rain, she was followed by ten carloads of cameramen.
1567—2007(Hide quotations)
car manufacturer n.
1840 Atlas
(Boston)
2 Sept. 1/2
He was arrested by Mr Allison, car manufacturer, on a contract to the amount of $4000.
1907 Scotsman 18 Feb. 10/2
This important part of the car's anatomy seems to receive less attention than it did from car manufacturers.
1918 Q. Jrnl. Econ. 33 148
Some car manufacturers ceased to engage in the prosaic business of manufacturing railway equipment.
2006 D. Edgerton Shock of Old
(2008)
iii. 69
Ford was at this time easily the largest car manufacturer in the world.
1840—2006(Hide quotations)
car mechanic n.
1888 Pacific Bank Handbk. of Calif. 125/2
Sixteen crews of railroad men have their headquarters here. A large number of car mechanics are employed here.
1946 Flying Apr. 50/3
When I was in the garage business, a good car mechanic earned about $35 a week.
2011 R. Neuwirth Stealth of Nations 64
A car mechanic sat amid a sprawl of oily parts, wiping a spark plug on a dirty piece of paper.
1888—2011(Hide quotations)
car owner n.
1782 Parker's Gen. Advertiser 23 Oct.,
This great metropolis is abandoned to..car owners, master porters, and carmen.
1849 Jurist 12 ii. 508
Arthur Kerr, West Derby, near Liverpool, car owner: in the Gaol of Lancaster.
1903 Motoring Ann. 91
Car-owners always consider it a privilege to have Miss Wilson on their front seat.
2009 Wall St. Jrnl. 7 Oct. d2/3
Car owners can generally opt to replace tires with a lower-end name brand or so-called off-label models, depending on the vehicle.
1782—2009(Hide quotations)
car-owning adj. and n.
1893 Railroad Car Jrnl. Apr. 147/1
This information is already complete for many car owning companies.
1903 Motor 28 Jan. 483/1
Along came Captain Campbell, who, with his becoming modesty, thinks himself A Military Man of Moderate Means, and gave his own experiences in car-owning.
1904 Motor Age 14 Apr. 7/1,
95 per cent of the A.M.L. members are automobile owners... This is a larger percentage of car-owning members than..some of the clubs have.
1925 A. Huxley Along the Road i. 17
Car-owning may have the worst effect on the character.
1959 Daily Tel. 15 Oct. 12
The traffic problems of a car-owning democracy.
1983 Jrnl. Marketing 47 125
Manufacturers are..using direct mail and coupons to invite women to dealerships for test drives, and presenting seminars on car owning.
1995 Sci. & Public Affairs Winter 24/1
Women in car-owning households make nearly twice as many bus trips as men.
1893—1995(Hide quotations)
car ownership n.
1895 Railroad Gaz. 7 June 861/3
A car ownership of 297,841 cars.
1953 Changing Times July 13/1
Most people like to fool themselves about the actual costs of car ownership.
2006 A. Steffen et al. Worldchanging
(2008)
270/1
Because most of us value car ownership, the services that carsharing provide have to outweigh the inconvenience of not having a car.
1895—2006(Hide quotations)
car rental n.
1865 Rep. Railway Postal Service Commissioners
(Canada)
App. 1. 96
This additional 15 per cent..is in fact as much the earning of the Railway car space, hired by the Express, as the first 10 per cent estimated as paid for the actual car rental.
1946 N.Y. Times 3 Aug. (Sports section) 11/8
(advt.)
Car rental service. Drive it yourself.
2006 R. Braidotti Transpositions 51
Workers in these centre answer queries on a wide range of subjects ranging from car rentals..to plane tickets.
1865—2006(Hide quotations)
car ride n.
1902 W. N. Harben Abner Daniel iii. 25
Now I have a long car-ride before me, and it's growing late.
2007 N.Y. Times
(National ed.)
7 Jan. ix. 4/5
On the car ride down to..the West Village, the model..got a text message from her brother.
1902—2007(Hide quotations)
† car-ring n. Obs.
1801 R. Southey Thalaba II. xii. 310
And clench'd the car-rings endlong and aside.
1801—1801(Hide quotations)
car salesman n.
1908 Rudder Dec. 317/2
The so-called Automobile Clubs are nothing but exchanges or marts, the membership being principally made up of auto-mobile makers, car salesmen and gentleman touts.
2007 N. Rosen How to live Off-grid iv. 141
He is a vehicle broker, or, to put it bluntly, a car salesman.
1908—2007(Hide quotations)
car shed n.
1837 Hampshire Advertiser & Salisbury Guardian 18 Mar.
(advt.)
The stabling for twenty horses, lock-up coach-house, and open car shed, with sleeping apartments over.
1902 W. N. Harben Abner Daniel v. 36
The ancient-looking brick car-shed under which the trains of two main lines ran.
2002 T. Kooser Local Wonders
(2004)
8
Within a few years after the introduction of the automobile, car sheds were being built as attachments to houses.
1837—2002(Hide quotations)
car shop n.
1836 Amer. Railroad Jrnl. 31 Dec. 819/1
Stock in hand, in car shop.
1881 Chicago Times 14 May,
The employés of the Grand Trunk car shops are on strike.
1995 St Louis
(Missouri)
Post Disp.
(Nexis)
5 Feb. (Business section) 1c
The Union Pacific Railroad will move 192 jobs to its car shop in De Soto.
1836—1995(Hide quotations)
car showroom n.
1911 Manch. Guardian 14 July 3/ 6
(advt.)
Armstrong Whitworth have opened car showrooms at 114, Deansgate, Manchester. An inspection of models here is cordially invited.
2008 F. Cottrell Boyce Cosmic 32
It was my first time in a car showroom. I'd never seen a car on a carpet before.
1911—2008(Hide quotations)
car spring n.
1864 Ann. Rep. Amer. Instit. 1863-4 495
This is demonstrated every day on our railroad cars by the vulcanized India rubber car spring.
1917 Horseless Age 1 Jan. 44/1
The Velvet absorbers have twin spiral springs in each casing, there being a casing and the necessary attachments on each side of the car spring.
1864—1917(Hide quotations)
car starter n.
1858 Roxbury
(Mass.)
Directory 142
Pratt Charles C. car starter, house 4 Webster.
a1874 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. I. 484/1
Car-starter, a device to assist in starting a street-car from the dead stop.
1876 Scribner's Monthly Apr. 911/2
The stockholders and directors, the ‘car-starters’ and ‘spotters’,..were all embalmed in verse.
1930 Pop. Mech. Oct. 615
Car starter, lights and horn operated by one button.
2011 Tulsa
(Oklahoma)
World
(Nexis)
16 May
(advt.)
Automatic car starters are a good feature because they could save you critical time in a bad situation.
1858—2011(Hide quotations)
car sticker n.
1919 Telephony 2 Aug. 18/3
It also gave him the necessary information for preparing car stickers and marking the cars.
2010 J. O'Connor Without Warning v. 107
They were working on a system through the roadblocks, with car stickers to identify locals.
1919—2010(Hide quotations)
car tax n.
1856 F. Wood in X. D. MacLeod Biogr. Hon. Fernando Wood xii. 181,
I make the same recommendation as to a car-tax, and the cleaning and repairs of the avenues and streets through which they pass, as made with reference to the city railroads.
1936 Times 10 June 13/7
You spend probably twice as much a year on petrol as on car tax.
2004 New Yorker 28 June 74/3
State officials raised the annual registration fee, or car tax, that California motorists pay on their vehicles.
1856—2004(Hide quotations)
car thief n.
1856 Lowell
(Mass.)
Daily Citizen & News 26 Dec.,
A gang of car thieves has been detected at Elmira, N. Y., and a portion of them arrested.
1935 R. T. Hopkins Life & Death at Old Bailey x. 269
When the car thief knocks off a drag (car) from some West End car park.
2001 G. Joseph Homegrown xxxiv. 466
It was obviously where the local joy-riders and car thieves destroyed and stripped their cars.
1856—2001(Hide quotations)
car track n.
1812 W. S. Dickson Narr. Confinem. & Exile 324
The other two went on, one on each side of the car track, along which I rode.
1875 Field & Forest 1 36
One can hardly fail to notice the thrifty young trees..as they line each side of the car track.
1943 B. Smith Tree grows in Brooklyn xiii. 100
A couple of boys would put a tin can on the car track..and watch..as the trolley wheels flattened the can.
1999 Daily Mail Ski & Snowboard Dec. 8/1
A shrine for Marilyn Monroe, on a car-track above the Elvis shrine.
1812—1999(Hide quotations)
car transporter n.
1920 W. W. Ewing Constr. Materials & Machinery in Argentina & Bolivia 56
There are..5 car transporters communicating with the sorting yard.
2002 J. Michalak Boatbuilding for Beginners
(2004)
129/2
The second warning involves turbulence near large trucks. Car transporters seem the worst.
1920—2002(Hide quotations)
car washer n.
1869 Public Documents Mass. 1868 4 36. 293,
19 roadmen, 3 strikers, 8 switchmen, 2 jobbers, 1 car washer.
1884 Western Daily Press 2 Apr. 5/7
A car-washer in the employ of the Great Western Railway.
2008 Big Issue Christmas 37/3
On a good day a group of car washers say they can earn a dollar.
1869—2008(Hide quotations)
car wheel n.
1618 T. Adams Happines of Church i. 295
Tell a rusticke or mechanicke..that a little starre is larger than his car-wheele; and he derides thy boldnesse.
1887 C. B. George 40 Years on Rail iv. 67
The engineer was..Richard Norton Allen, the inventor of the famous paper car-wheel called by his name.
1939 Life 11 Sept. 35
Railroad rail suffers little strain when the car wheel runs straight..but the rail takes a beating when the wheel tilts for a curve.
2004 Amer. Motorcyclist Mar. 92
On the single-sided design, the rear wheel mounts on studs, like a car wheel, so it has to be pulled off directly to the side.
1618—2004(Hide quotations)
car window n.
1839 C. A. Wean Winter in Pine Woods ii. 31
As we noted from the car window, the stumps of great trees and logs half consumed by fire..I could not help thinking that these men were fit emblembs [sic] of the desolation they work.
1873 J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West ii. 53
From a car window one may note a curious though very gradual..change in soil and climate.
1903 R. Kipling Five Nations 115
Where the white car-windows shine.
1997 A. Roy God of Small Things
(1998)
ii. 61
A leper with soiled bandages begged at the car window.
1839—1997(Hide quotations)
car windscreen n.
1926 Manch. Guardian 8 Sept. 4/3
The car windscreen, mudguard, and offside wheel were smashed and a tyre burst.
2011 C. Hodge Road Kill vii. 110
When the head of a pedestrian hits a car windscreen, it's safe to assume that considerable force is involved.
1926—2011(Hide quotations)
car windshield n. chiefly N. Amer.
1922 Altoona
(Pa.)
Mirror 14 Aug. 9/5
(advt.)
Anti-rain fluid for car windshields.
2004 R. Meacham Let's Do 47
His car windshield is sprayed with mud.
1922—2004(Hide quotations)
C2. Instrumental.
car-borne adj.
1762 J. Macpherson Death of Cuchullin in Fingal 143
Sing on, O Bragela, daughter of Car-borne Songlan!
1812 Bp. R. Heber tr. Pindar in Poems 118
Car-borne Psaumis.
1956 Times 22 Mar. 12/6
They are taking the steam out of trains now. Only some of to-day's car-borne generation can have had the joy of travelling on one of those great rhythmic beasts.
1998 Grocer 30 May 18/2,
I doubt too many car-borne shoppers will abandon their Friday night habit of a drive to the superstore in favour of the neighbourhood shop.
1762—1998(Hide quotations)
C3.
car accident n. a crash or collision involving one or more cars (now usually motor cars).
1834 Derby Mercury 5 Nov. 3/5
Car accident.
1872 San Francisco Chron. 29 Nov. 3/4
Car accident... Two men came out of the car, and, in their hurry to get off pushed the boy from the platform.
1920 C. Sidgwick & C. Garstin Black Knight 204
An' to think I only rambled up here to see could you give me any details of the car accident!
1966 P. Theroux Sinning with Annie
(1972)
107
The car accidents were very strange, freak accidents... One man skidded on a perfectly dry road.
2010 Cape Argus
(Nexis)
26 June (Personal Finance section) 2
If you are involved in a car accident where you are at fault, you may be liable for the damage to the other driver's car.
1834—2010(Hide quotations)
carbarn n. N. Amer. a large garage for tramcars, railway carriages, etc.
1875 Inter Ocean
(Chicago)
7 Oct. 8/1
At the West Side car barns the horses, owing to the inferior accommodations, are in a far worse condition.
1925 Amer. Mercury Oct. 247/2
The daily life and ambitions of a lowly Morningside Heights family, the head of which is a car-barn employee.
1994 Etc. 9 News
(Toronto)
6 Nov. (Suppl.) p. iii
(advt.)
Connaught Avenue residents reported in a recent media article their frustration with years of heavy traffic and noise from carbarns on Queen St. E.
1875—1994(Hide quotations)
car battery n. †(a) Mil. a two-wheeled carriage used to carry ammunition and gunners (obs. rare); (b) a battery used in a car; (in later use chiefly) spec. a lead-acid battery supplying electrical energy for a motor vehicle's ignition system, starter motor, lights, and other electrical components.
1876 G. E. Voyle & G. de Saint-Clair-Stevenson Mil. Dict.
(ed. 3)
at Wurst,
Car Battery—A kind of carriage used by the French, in 1791, with the view of improving the mobility of field batteries.
1886 T. A. Edison in N. Amer. Rev. Mar. 287
The current from the car battery and the roof of the car is of such a nature that the wave of electricity..lasts only about one 500,000th of a second.
1934 Discovery Nov. 324/2
A hand starter is provided on the engine, or it may be started from a car battery.
1978 G. C. Hill & J. S. Holman Chem. in Context xiii. 196
Virtually all car batteries are composed of either three or six lead-acid cells.
1997 Sydney Morning Herald
(Nexis)
9 Jan. 12
In California, EV-1 drivers can only recharge their car batteries at home or at one of 150 sites in the State.
2007 C. Stross Halting State
(2008)
313
Jack jerks in his chair like you've brought out a car battery and clamped the shockers to his wedding tackle.
1876—2007(Hide quotations)
car bonnet n. = bonnet n. 6g; cf. car hood n.
1904 N.Y. Times 13 July 8/3
His car bonnet, radiator, and fan gear were torn away while passing a preceding vehicle.
1982 S. Molian Mechanism Design ii. 21
Consider the design of a linkage to enable a car bonnet to be lifted.
2012 Age
(Melbourne, Austral.)
(Nexis)
3 Mar. (Drive section) 5
Pedestrians often suffer severe injuries when their head strikes either the engine or suspension mounts that sit just beneath the car bonnet.
1904—2012(Hide quotations)
car-bound adj. riding in or confined to a car; (later also) dependent upon a car.
1825 London Mag. Jan. 23
The thousand car-bound cherubim, The wandering Eleven.
1877 Catholic World June 290
In Rome's old triumphs thus the car-bound slave Scoffed, as he passed, of Fortune's spite, and Fate's.
1997 S. Prickett in H. Thomas Dance in City xi. 198
The local fitness club offers an antidote to the sedentary and car-bound lifestyle in which I find myself.
2004 R. Kunzmann Bloody Harvests
(2005)
xviii. 96
Harry watches a flower vendor entertain tired car-bound commuters by whistling an enthusiastic tune.
1825—2004(Hide quotations)
car camping n. a type of camping involving driving to a campsite (rather than, for example, hiking to a site), enabling the camper to bring equipment and provisions which would be too bulky or heavy to carry.
1925 Youth's Compan. 25 June 437/2
There is no place in a car-camping outfit for that time-honored article the dish pan; it is too big.
1972 Field & Stream Oct. 135/1
The rigid plastic jug in..5-gallon size is good for car camping.
2011 D. Haynes Motorcycling Alabama iii. 18
Backpacking gear is also lighter weight than gear intended for car camping.
1925—2011(Hide quotations)
car carrier n. (a) a person or company hired to convey goods by car (now rare); (b) a lorry, ship, or other vehicle used to transport cars (now usually motor cars).
1888 Freeman's Jrnl.
(Dublin)
10 Jan. 6/3
(headline)
Ten car carriers sent to jail.
1916 Times of India 25 Aug. 9/3
A firm of commercial car carriers was summoned..for keeping petrol on its premises.
1945 Barron's National Business & Financial Weekly 19 Mar. 20/3
Pennsylvania law gives the double-decker car-carriers the right to operate only until the end of the current year.
2011 J. Konrad & T. Shroder Fire on Horizon 4
Car carriers with their tall boxlike hulls and internal maze of ramps capable of holding thousands of vehicles.
1888—2011(Hide quotations)
car charger n. (a) U.S. a railway employee, perh. one with responsibility for loading goods carriages or wagons (rare); (b) a charger (esp. for a portable electronic device) designed to be plugged into a motor vehicle’s electrical system so as to draw power from the vehicle's battery.
1911 Ann. Rep. Dept. Bureaus 1909 II.
(N.Y. State Dept. Labor)
481/1
Carmen... Car chargers... Inspectors [etc.].
1990 Times 3 Aug. 27/9
(advt.)
Range Rover Vogue EFi... Immac body work, low mileage.., NEC P3 portable telephone with car charger also available.
2006 R. Chandrasekaran Imperial Life in Emerald City
(2007)
iii. 55
He had a car charger for his satellite phone so he could make calls when he was driving around the city.
1911—2006(Hide quotations)
† car clout n. Obs. a plate protecting the axle of a cart (cf. clout n.1 2).
c1320—c1320(Hide quotations)
car club n. (a) a club for car owners or enthusiasts; (b) Brit. an organization that owns or manages a fleet of vehicles (typically parked in designated urban or residential locations) which members may rent, often on an hourly basis.
1919 Automotive Industries 30 Oct. 888/2
(heading)
British car club defines light car.
1997 Scotl. on Sunday
(Nexis)
6 Apr. 4
Residents..are to be offered the chance to join a ‘car club’, which gives its members 24-hour-a-day access to a fleet of shared cars.
2007 N. Mort Classic Cars 27
Many classic car enthusiasts belong to car clubs.
2008 Daily Tel. 29 May 4/4
Thousands of drivers are joining car clubs, which allow people to hire vehicles by the hour, because of the rising cost of motoring.
1919—2008(Hide quotations)
car coat n. a short, square-cut style of coat designed to be worn when driving a car.
1956 Life 8 Oct. 156
(advt.)
Fur–collar car coat.
1965 Guardian 31 Mar. 16/3
The now ubiquitous car-coat..is usually made from a cotton suedette or brushed nylon shell fabric and lined with an acrylic pile liner.
2006 Esquire Sept. 91/2
The classic car coat is cut just below the backside for your driving pleasure.
1956—2006(Hide quotations)
car culture n. (usu. with negative connotations) a society or way of life characterized by excessive use of or reliance on motor vehicles.
1957 Port Angeles Evening News 24 Apr. 7/4
If a Californian wants a snack, he jumps into his car... To German eyes, such a car culture is a bit unreal.
1995 Independent 15 May 3/6
The occupation of Camden High Street is part of a wider campaign against the car culture.
2012 J. Shrand & L. Devine Manage your Stress vii. 118
What we have seen in the last half century has been an increase in sedentary behavior, especially in car cultures.
1957—2012(Hide quotations)
car crime n. a crime involving a motor vehicle, esp. a theft of or from a car; (also) crimes of this type considered collectively; cf. autocrime n. at auto n.5 Compounds 2.
1936 Times of India 13 Mar. 16/7
Car crimes even more undesirable than ‘smash and grab’ raids are hold-ups in the style of Dick Turpin.
1971 Irish Times 30 Sept. 6/7
(headline)
Increase in London car crimes.
2008 E. Forbes Our Lady of Pain ii. 22
Car crime, petty burglaries and the odd drug-related mugging were the usual fare in this sort of district.
1936—2008(Hide quotations)
car-free adj. not having or involving the use of a car; (of a city, street, etc.) free from cars.
1938 Delta Star
(Greenville, Mississippi)
22 Mar. 4/1
Spring and summer are open seasons for the carefree and car-free traveller.
1967 Joplin
(Missouri)
Globe 13 Sept. 7 a/2
(advt.)
He'll be glad to help you plan a care-free, car-free vacation trip you'll really enjoy!
1986 Guardian 23 Dec. 6/4
Venice, the world's most famous car-free city.
2012 H.-C. Chen in A. Madanipour Whose Public Space? iv. 78
A pedestrianized street can be well lit and is car-free.
1938—2012(Hide quotations)
† car-gear n. Obs. the harness for a cart.
1808 R. Anderson et al. Ballads in Cumberland Dial. 43
The car-geer at Durdar she wan.
1808—1808(Hide quotations)
car hood n. now chiefly N. Amer. a canopy or other protective cover on a car; (later chiefly) spec. = hood n.1 5o; cf. car bonnet n.
1883 Canad. Patent Office Rec. Apr. 112/1
The combination of a car hood, a lamp mounted centrally therein, and an inclined reflector.
1921 Berks County Law Jrnl. 14 74
The car hood was dished in on the top of the hood, and the rim of the radiator was bent.
2011 S. Pressfield Profession v. 62
If the thieves can get at the engine, they'll winch that out too, though every car hood in Cairo is double padlocked.
1883—2011(Hide quotations)
car line n. chiefly N. Amer. the line or route along which a railway car or streetcar travels; (also) a company that operates this service.
1833 Amer. Railroad Jrnl. 31 Aug. 548/2
Proceeded to Newcastle; reached Frenchtown, in the car line, in less than an hour.
1894 P. L. Ford Hon. Peter Stirling lvi. 365
All the car lines took off their cars. Trucks disappeared from the streets.
1940 R. Wright Native Son ii. 127
He walked toward the car line; when he looked back he saw her still standing in the snow.
2006 W. Burg Sacramento's Streetcars iv. 49
Car lines ran..along the Y Street levee and Thirty-first Street.
1833—2006(Hide quotations)
carloading n. U.S. the amount of freight carried in goods trains within a given period; also fig.
1947 Life 4 Aug. 75
Your railroads are moving an almost unbelievable amount of freight across the nation. In the first four months of this year they topped even their wartime carloading records!
1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself
(1961)
210
A carloading of homogenized words.
1963 Economist 21 Dec. 1292/2
Railway shares have benefited especially from such things as consistent increases in carloadings.
1990 Railroad Model Craftsman July 72/1
Railroad intermodal traffic has grown from virtually nothing to the point where it is second only to coal in terms of carloading.
1947—1990(Hide quotations)
car maker n. a manufacturer of cars, now esp. motor cars.
1734 True State Eng. 46
Cutler, Mr. John Justice. Glover, Mr. Philip Nichols. Car-Maker, Mr. Edward Salloway.
1895 Ann. Rep.
(New Hampshire Railroad Commissioners)
80
Liman W. Sargent, conductor; Thomas J. Kirkley, rear brakeman, and Otis Young, car maker, all of Concord.
1904 Manch. Guardian 31 Dec. 50/2
The real reason why motor-car makers pooh-pooh the solid tyre is that they will not suspend the body on the right springs. If you tell the car maker this, he retorts that he does not want his customers to swing about like a baby in its cradle.
2011 Daily Tel. 25 Feb. (Business section) b2/6
Japanese car maker Toyota is recalling 2.17m Toyota and Lexus cars in the US because of concern that carpet and floormat flaws may impede drivers' use of the pedals.
1734—2011(Hide quotations)
car park n. Chiefly Brit. an open space or building for the parking of motor vehicles.
1926 Daily Mail 1 Dec. 9/6
Glastonbury Car Park. Indignation has been aroused..by a proposal..to purchase part of the land..as an extra parking space for motor cars.
1955 Times 9 May 18/2
A large construction programme [in Canada] of multi-deck car parks with direct access to the stores.
1955 Times 25 Aug. 8/6
The car park attendant.
2009 Daily Tel. 18 Sept. 25/4
Coming home from work early one day, I was amazed to find a 14-year-old boy driving a BMW around the car park at the front of my house.
1926—2009(Hide quotations)
car parking n. the parking of motor vehicles; space reserved or used for this; freq. attrib.
1915 Racine
(Wisconsin)
Jrnl.-News 16 June 1/6
(headline)
Merchants want council to amend car parking ordinance.
1960 Daily Tel. 31 Mar. 15/1
What promises to be the most important experiment in traffic control starts next Monday, when car parking over the whole of Mayfair becomes subject to meters.
1998 P. Chapman 1999 Good Curry Guide 203
The centre has ample 24hr-security-guarded car parking facilities.
2004 Hot Prop. 6 Aug. 49/4
(advt.)
Warehouse features, including ceiling beam & double loading bay doors, secure underground car parking.
1915—2004(Hide quotations)
car phone n. a portable telephone, esp. one using a cellular radio system, designed for use in a car.
1946 Pop. Mech. June 108
Brainard tells you that the car phone is hooked up by short-wave radio to his telephone at home.
1965 Newsweek 12 July 63/1
There is a pocket of mobile phone owners in New York..but the fad hasn't yet caught on in other cities, where car phones are generally for professional purposes.
1986 Sunday Tel. 15 June 8/1
It must have been caused by a police mobile transmitter or someone using a car phone nearby.
2002 Mandala Mar. 72/1
Just a few streets away, she answered her car phone. ‘We have to pull over,’ she said.
1946—2002(Hide quotations)
car plant n. †(a) cars regarded as the equipment of a business or enterprise (obs. rare); (b) a car factory.
1884 Amer. Settler 11 Oct. 14/2
The car service across the bridge is a proper subject of revenue. Austin Corbin offers to take the present car plant and pay the cities $250,000.
1901 N.Y. Times 14 Nov. 7/4
The car plant at Johnstown will be able to turn out twenty cars a day.
2009 C. Harman Zombie Capitalism
(2010)
117
The efforts of rival car producers to outsell each other bring the concrete forms of labour in different car plants into an unplanned inter-relationship.
1884—2009(Hide quotations)
carport n. orig. U.S. a roofed, open-sided or open-fronted shelter for a car, usually adjoining or attached to a house.
1939 Life 8 May 17/1
At the left is the ‘carport’ which opens on main entrance of building.
1963 Sunday Times 21 Apr. 45/6
Terrace houses overlooking Torbay which incorporate tiled carports under the houses.
2006 Saltscapes
(Canada)
Mar. 64/3
By extending timberframing to the front entrance, the carport,..and the front side gables, the timbered look was extended to three sides of the building.
1939—2006(Hide quotations)
car radio n. a radio or radio transceiver set in the dashboard of a motor vehicle and powered by the vehicle's battery.
[1930 Radio News
(N.Y.)
Aug. 139/1
The American Bosch Magneto Corporation..have introduced the Bosch motor car radio receiver.]
1931 Burlington
(Iowa)
Hawk-Eye 22 Feb. i. 17/2
(advt.)
Enjoy your motoring more by installing in your car the new Philco car radio $65.
1969 S. Greenlee Spook who sat by Door xiii. 113
Cops spoke busily into their car radios and handy-talkies.
2002 C. Hiaasen Basket Case ii. 22
One of his songs came on the car radio, he'd turn it off right away... Just changed the channel.
1931—2002(Hide quotations)
car seat n. (a) a seat in a car (now usually a motor car); (b) a portable seat for an infant or young child, designed to be secured to a passenger seat in a car.
1850 P. G. Washington & C. M. Willard U.S. Postal Guide 42/1
Improvement in Car-seat Backs.
1908 Indiana
(Pa.)
Democrat 23 Dec.,
Such little woodwork as enters into the make-up of the coach, the plush with which the car seats are covered..is treated to a fireproofing process.
1926 I. Mackay Blencarrow xiii. 116
‘Have a pew?’ he offered, making himself as small as possible on the red plush car seat.
1957 Washington Post & Times Herald 1 Aug. b5/2
(advt.)
Baby car seat... Sturdy canvas body.
2000 Big Issue 4 Sept. 4/1
A mobile phone left on a car seat in London will be stolen within two hours or less.
2011 R. Lupton Afterwards xxviii. 280
You carried our blanket-wrapped boy, asleep in his car seat, up the front door steps.
1850—2011(Hide quotations)
car share n. orig. U.S. = car-sharing n. (chiefly attrib.); (also) an instance of this.
1942 Gettysburg
(Pa.)
Times 13 Oct. 1/2
If a group of workers were using the car-share plan, they were eligible for gasoline rations for all of the machines used by the group.
1996 Irish Times
(Nexis)
27 Sept. 20
Car share scheme to get trial on Irish roads... The scheme..operates by car owners joining an association, which then allows others to use their cars, at agreed times and rates.
2003 North Devon Jrnl.
(Nexis)
7 Aug. 15
The action plan also calls for investment in a car share database for travellers making similar journeys.
2009 J. Dorfman Lazy Environmentalist on Budget 12
You can enjoy the freedom of being in the driver's seat while eliminating all the expense of owning—or leasing—and maintaining a car by joining a car-share service.
1942—2009(Hide quotations)
car-sharing n. orig. U.S. (a) an arrangement between people (esp. work colleagues) to make a regular journey in a single vehicle, typically with each person taking turns to drive the others (freq. attrib.); cf. car pool n.; (b) any of various types of scheme in which a group of people share access to a vehicle (or pool of vehicles) which may be reserved for short periods of time (cf. car club n. (b)); freq. attrib.
1942 Bradford
(Pa.)
Era 17 Apr. 13/2
Form car-sharing pools with neighbors working in the same general area.
1975 Economist
(Nexis)
11 Oct. 26
The fact that some 2,000 people have entered into car-sharing arrangements with each other he claims as a revolutionary success.
1990 D. Wann Biologic iv. 201
Several apartment complexes across the country have successful car-sharing programs. Participants sign up for ‘cartime’.
1998 Chicago Tribune
(Nexis)
11 Jan. xii. 8/2
Car-sharing works by having an organization buy, maintain, insure and operate vehicles.
2000 Adv. Driving
(Inst. Adv. Motorists)
Summer 15/2
If you have to commute by car, think about car sharing, Park and Ride schemes or public transport.
2012 N.Y. Times
(Nexis)
17 Mar. b1
The car-sharing services allow you, in effect, to turn your personal car into a Zipcar and rent it out by the hour or the day.
1942—2012(Hide quotations)
car stereo n. stereophonic equipment for use in a motor vehicle, typically powered by the vehicle's battery and having a (removable) console set in the dashboard.
[1963 Billboard 9 Feb. 34/1
Muntz went into business with his car stereo tape playback unit.]
1964 Washington Post 19 Apr. c5/8
(advt.)
Car stereo is here.
1966 ACS Automotive Chain Store Apr. 29/1
(advt.)
The industry's best line of car-stereos.
1994 Foresight
(Sun Alliance)
Autumn 7/1
Don't leave valuables in your car and install a removable or security-coded car stereo.
2009 T. Pynchon Inherent Vice xiv. 249
Tito had Roza Eskenazi tapes playing over the car stereo.
1964—2009(Hide quotations)
car trunk n. N. Amer. the luggage compartment of a motor car; = trunk n. 7b.
1912 N.Y. Times 18 Aug. vii. 2/3
The busy man of affairs off to ‘do’ the Adirondacks by motor is content with such fresh linen as may be crowded into the car trunk.
1965 Pop. Sci. Nov. 95
A roll-top lid on car trunks.
2011 J. Darnton Almost Family
(2012)
105
He pulled into the driveway and ceremoniously opened the car trunk and lifted out a blanket.
1912—2011(Hide quotations)
car tyre n. (also car tire) (a) a metal rim for the wheel of a carriage, tram, etc. (now rare); (b) a rubber tyre for the wheel of a motor car.
1844 N. Amer. & Daily Advertiser 27 Dec.
(advt.)
,
Locomotive and car tires—An assortment of best English Tires.
1910 Industr. Engin. & Engin. Digest Apr. 282/2
They also cut very hard materials, such as..brake-hardened railway and car tires, manganese steel castings, etc.
1912 Collier's 6 Jan. ii. 19/1
The consequent accumulated momentum of its weight, may impart a ‘hammer blow’ of several tons to the car tires.
2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane vi. 135
The clatter of a train passing along the tracks reverberated against the dank brick walls, drowning out the swish of car tyres cutting through shallow pools of water.
1844—2005(Hide quotations)
car wash n. orig. U.S. the action or process of washing a car; an establishment or service providing this, esp. a building or other structure having equipment for washing motor vehicles, now usually automatically.
1915 Fort Wayne
(Indiana)
Jrnl.-Gaz. 5 Dec. 20/5
Best car-wash in the city.
1948 Pop. Sci. Monthly Feb. 122/2
Even harried motorists often stay beyond their own three minute car wash time to watch the spectacular blower-drier... made by Minit-Man Car Wash, of Detroit, Michigan.
1962 Guardian 9 Jan. 8/6
An automatic car-wash firm which advertises a five-minute service.
1986 ‘P. Dunant’ Intensive Care iii. 22
He did some shopping and called in at a carwash.
2006 Sunday Mail
(Brisbane)
23 July 57/1
We apologise for not being able to provide a courtesy car wash due to current water restrictions.
1915—2006(Hide quotations)
car wreck n. (a) a wrecked car (now usually a motor car); (b) = car crash n.
1877 Sunday School Jrnl. Sept. 223/1
A few days previous to his death on the terrible car-wreck at Ashtabula.
1929 Washington Post 8 July 1/3
(headline)
Woman dies, four hurt in car wreck.
1961 Sunday Express 12 Feb. 9/2
He accuses them of..selling ‘written off’ car wrecks.
2007 J. R. Ellig & W. J. Morin Driving Career Highway 155
Employees who become romantically involved could be caught in a real car wreck.
1877—2007(Hide quotations)