Benz

It was a Benz, an unusual car in this neighborhood, blue with a thick white stripe bisecting the hood, the roof, and the trunk.

2007, Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING (2018), page 110:

(automotive, informal) Short for Mercedes-Benz.


fixie

A number of couriers in NYC use `fixies' -- fixed-gear bikes with no brakes.

1992 August 2, David Keppel, “Tripping bicycles and motorcycles (was Re: Bicycle helmets)”, in rec.bicycles (Usenet), retrieved 2016-07-15, message-ID <<1992Aug2.164246.23667@beaver.cs.washington.edu>>:

Coming from San Francisco, where gentrification swept through neighborhoods faster than hipster trends like fixies, tattoos, and retro eighties wardrobes, I didn't think Erin had anything to worry about.

2013, Gordon Young, Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City, page 107:

[F]ixed-gear bikes, or "fixies," cycles that have one speed and are built without the free-wheel equipment that keeps a regular bicycle's pedals stationary while the tires are in motion.

2014 April 12, Claire Martin, “How a bicycle maker saw the light, and found its balance”, in The New York Times:


fixed-gear bicycle

en-noun

fixed-gear bicycle (plural fixed-gear bicycles)

A bicycle that does not have a freewheel, and only has a single gear ratio.


bubble car

(rail transport, informal) a single-car multiple unit


lowrider bicycle

lowrider bicycle (plural lowrider bicycles)

a type of bicycle with a banana seat and sissy bars


tour bus

tour bus (plural tour buses or tour busses)

tour buses (plural)
tour busses (plural)

A bus used for a touring group, especially by musicians.


armoured personnel carrier

armoured personnel carrier (plural armoured personnel carriers)

armored personnel carrier
armored personnel carrier#English

(British spelling) Alternative spelling of armored personnel carrier


armoured fighting vehicle

armoured fighting vehicle (plural armoured fighting vehicles)

(military) An armed and armoured military vehicle which runs on wheels or caterpillar track, used by fighting troops.

kveiti ǯaris muxluxa ǯavšanṭransṗorṭiori

ქვეითი ჯარის მუხლუხა ჯავშანტრანსპორტიორი


tank destroyer

armoured fighting vehicle
armoured fighting vehicle

(military) An armoured fighting vehicle equipped with an antitank gun or missile launcher.


bulker

(nautical) A person employed to ascertain the bulk or size of goods, in order to fix the amount of freight or dues payable on them.


ocean liner

(nautical) a narrow-beam passenger ship designed for high speed transoceanic travel


passenger liner

passenger liner (plural passenger liners)

And it's not just freight that arrives here. I notice several massive passenger liners, looking more like floating blocks of flats rather than the elegant ships from the days when 'POSH' was coined. The arrival of just one of these behemoths can swamp Southampton station with passengers and luggage, but not today.

2024 November 13, Paul Bigland, “Much to admire... but pockets of neglect”, in RAIL, number 1022, page 50:


ice cream truck

ice cream truck (plural ice cream trucks)

(US) A vehicle from which ice cream is sold at the roadside, mostly to children.


supercar

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-supercar.wav


sidewheeler

(nautical) A vessel (especially a paddle steamer) propelled by a pair of paddle wheels positioned one on each side

siipiratasalus, jonka siipirattaat ovat aluksen kyljillä


paddle steamer

In the second volume of his autobiography, he writes of a journey up the Padma by paddle steamer (built, as it happens, on the river outside my window), where the dry season had exposed many sandbanks...

2014 September 16, Ian Jack, “Is this the end of Britishness”, in The Guardian:

By the 1880s, the pretty harbour village of Lynmouth was enjoying an influx of holidaymakers brought by paddle steamers from the likes of Bristol and Swansea.

2021 January 13, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Spectacular funiculars”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 53:

(nautical) A steam-powered vessel propelled by one or two paddle wheels

caixell de paletes

steam-powered vessel propelled by paddle wheel(s)


radeau

Then three vessels under sail, and one at anchor, above Split Rock, and behind it the radeau Thunderer, noted in the last year's naval fight.

1859, Washington Irving, Life of Washington:


spryte

An off-road vehicle moving on tracks, which is used in amphibious and polar travel.


canaller

(nautical, chiefly Canada) A vessel of a design modified for use in a particular canal.


gas tank

(US) A fuel tank for gasoline built into equipment, especially vehicles.


bidarka

A kayak constructed by covering a light wooden frame (lashed together with sinew) in sea lion hides.


earthmover

A vehicle designed to excavate or transport earth in large quantities.


road roller

→ Japanese: ロードローラー (rōdorōrā)

A heavy engineering vehicle used to compact asphalt in the construction of roads.


cycler

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cycler.wav

We took samples from the tubes in the cycler at regular intervals

(biochemistry) Ellipsis of thermal cycler.; a machine for creating multiple copies of DNA sequences.


tow bar

A bar, or ball, usually at the rear of a vehicle, where a trailer, or caravan or other similar item can be attached and towed.

trekhaak

a bar, or ball, usually at the rear of a vehicle, where a trailer, or caravan or other similar item can be attached and towed


quadriga

quadriga (plural quadrigae or quadrigas)

From Latin quadrīgae, literally "four yoked", from quattuor (“four”) + iugum (“yoke”).

(historical) A team of four horses, or sometimes other animals, especially as used in chariot racing.


tribrid vehicle

tribrid vehicle (plural tribrid vehicles)

A vehicle that can use three different types of fuel, or has three different means of propulsion.


longtail boat

A type of watercraft native to Southeast Asia, which uses a common automotive engine as a powerplant; there is much variation among them, and in rural areas they may be improvised from bamboo and traditional materials with the sole defining characteristic being a secondhand car or truck engine.


rowing boat

(British, nautical) Alternative form of rowboat


double scull

(nautical) A light, narrow rowing boat, especially one used in competitive rowing, in which two rowers each have two oars


Yngling

From Norwegian yngling, Danish yngling, Swedish yngling (“youngster”); from Old Norse ungr (“young”) + -lingr (diminutive suffix, compare -ling), also a surname in Old Norse. Doublet of youngling.

A surname from Old Norse, especially used of members of the oldest known Scandinavian dynasty, the Ynglings, who were supposedly descended from Frey.


multihull

The marina was filled with yachts and powerboats, sleek multihulls fitted with the latest satellite-navigation gear that would steer the owners painlessly towards similar luxury berths at Portofino and Bandol.

2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 141:


kibitka

Borrowed from Russian киби́тка (kibítka); see there for more.

bor+

Three kinds of conveyances are available: the telega, or cart without springs, which has to be changed at every station, and for which a charge of about 8d. is made at every stage; the kibitka, or cart (in winter a sledge) with a hood; and the tarantas, a kind of carriage on wooden springs, which admits of the traveller lying down full length, and which can be made very comfortable at night.

1868, “Route 25: London to Pekin […] ”, in Handbook for Travellers in Russia, Poland, and Finland, 2nd edition, London: John Murray, page 329:

A Russian type of telega or sleigh with a (usually rounded) cover over the passenger seats.


four-by-four

A four-wheel-drive vehicle with a four-speed transmission.

A four-wheel vehicle with four-wheel-drive.

(by extension) any four-wheel-drive vehicle.


Dunkirker

(historical) A commerce raider who operated a warship in the service of the Spanish Empire, during the Dutch Revolt, from the ports of the Flemish coast: Nieuwpoort, Ostend, and in particular Dunkirk.


launch vehicle

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-launch vehicle.wav

(aerospace) A vehicle for transporting objects into space, usually a rocket.


gas pedal

(Canada, US, automotive) An accelerator; a foot control for fuel flow.


caique

Borrowed from French caïque, from Italian caicco, from Ottoman Turkish قایق (kayık), from Proto-Turkic *kiayguk (“boat, oar”). Cognate with modern Turkish kayık.

Shipping of every sort, from passenger liners to ferry steamers, tramps to tugs and trailing barges, feluccas to speedboats and yachts, from warships to caiques, chugs, hoots, glides or churns its way in all directions.

1950 July, J. C. Mertens, “By the "Taurus Express" to Baghdad”, in Railway Magazine, page 435:

(nautical) A small wooden trading vessel, brightly painted and rigged for sail, traditionally used for fishing and trawling.


pre-dreadnought

(nautical, military, historical) A late 19th-century or early 20th-century battleship with a small number of big guns (typically no more than four) and a large number of quick-firing medium-caliber guns. It was made largely obsolete in 1906 by the dreadnought type of battleship.

Japanese battleship Mikasa
Pre-dreadnought battleship

קְדַם דְּרֶדְנוֹט

late 19th or early 20th century battleship


tilbury

→ French: tilbury

→ Portuguese: tílburi

From Tilbury (“surname of the inventor”).

(slang, obsolete) Sixpence (formerly the fare from Gravesend to Tilbury Fort).


caramoussal

/ˌkæɹəmuːˈsɑːl/

(historical) A high-pooped Turkish ship.


saic

From French saïque, from Italian saicca, from Ottoman Turkish شایقه (şayka), from Bulgarian ша́йка (šájka) (a variant of Bulgarian ча́йка (čájka)), from Proto-Slavic *čajьka. Doublet of Czajka.

A kind of ketch heavily used in the Black Sea, Tisa, Danube and Sava


dolmus

From Turkish dolmuş, from dolma (“filling”) + -muş (“to be ~ed”).


clutch pedal

(automotive) A pedal in a manual transmission car that modulates the clutch mechanism, via clutch plate pressure.


steering column

en-noun

steering column (plural steering columns)

(automotive) a column originating in the dashboard and ending at the steering wheel


fog light

(automotive) One of a pair of lights, mounted at the front of a car, below the headlights, usually white or yellow in colour, for increased visibility ahead in foggy driving conditions.

霧燈 /雾灯

one of a pair of lights, mounted at the front of a car


snowmachine

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-snowmachine.wav

(vehicles) A vehicle that can travel through snow.


black cab

From the usual black colour of officially licensed hackney carriages and motorized taxis in London, particularly after World War II.

(informal) Similarly styled taxis elsewhere, especially officially licensed taxis elsewhere in the United Kingdom.


hackney carriage

hackney carriage (plural hackney carriages)

It is clear the Tory party is on an ideological crusade against my industry. Its interference in London’s recent private hire review shows just how far the government will go to deregulate the UK hackney carriage trade.

2016 February 9, Trevor Merralls, “Uber is no better than an old-fashioned gangmaster – so London’s cabbies are striking”, in The Guardian:

(British, formal) Synonym of black cab, an officially licensed taxi, a motorized vehicle for public hire.


Caddy

All those ones live in those great big piecrust mock-Two-door houses with His and Hers Caddies parked out by the hydrangea bushes.

He's driving a ten-year old^([sic]) lime-green Caddy with a trunk full of golf clubs and one suitcase. We got a license number.

2000, John Sandford [pseudonym; John Roswell Camp], Easy Prey, page 126:

So Dave backed his car in beside the Caddy, his eyes on the side door of the bar, no one having come out for a while.


drillship

(nautical) Any vessel fitted with drilling equipment


panda car

/ˌpændə ˈkɑː/

/ˌpændə ˈkɑɹ/

From the original black and white colouring of the automobiles, like that of a giant panda.

(UK, Ireland, law enforcement, informal) A police car; specifically (historical), one with a broad white stripe painted around its middle on a darker-coloured or, originally, black background.


microcar

GM announced plans to sell a tiny "microcar" called the Chevrolet Beat in Europe next year.

2009 January 12, Andrew Clark, “Driving in the last-chance saloon: Detroit's car firms defy naysayers”, in The Guardian:


newbuild

(US, nautical) A newly constructed vessel.


spaceplane

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-spaceplane.wav

A rocketplane designed to pass the edge of space, combining certain features of aircraft and spacecraft.


fleetside

Originally a brand name of Chevrolet, from fleet + side.

That pickup truck is a fleetside because the sides of the box are flat.

A pickup truck having flat bedsides (outside quarter panels). The rear quarter panels are flat and run lengthways along the wheel-well openings. Excludes both stepside and styleside truck bed styles.


superbike

French: SBK

French: FSBK

Spanish: SBK

Spanish: ESBK

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-superbike.wav

"Do you stay at the front of the second class, or step up and show what you can do on a superbike?"

2009 January 20, Craig Duff, “Broc Parkes up for big test”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 2009-01-20:

(motorcycling) A super sport bike with a large engine, usually between 800 and 1200 cc

stock car

formerly, modified-stock car racing (modified saloon cars, sedans)

stock car

now, patterned after street-legal cars, but custom-built for racing (patterned after saloon cars, sedans)


mahaila

A large riverboat, formerly used as a naval vessel in Arabian countries.


ambulette

A van used to transport patients in non-emergency situations.


mailboat

Stephen stood up and went over to the parapet. Leaning on it he looked down on the water and on the mailboat clearing the harbourmouth of Kingstown.

1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

[…] the news and propaganda in imperialistic papers imported once a month by the mail-boat from the South lacked power because it lacked continuity and was stale.

1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter VIII, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 120:

This train has to await the arrival at Kingsbridge of a train from Dun Laoghaire pier which leaves the latter on arrival of the mailboat from Holyhead.

1939 July, “Overseas Railways: Timetable Alterations, G.S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 55:


paddleboat

It also caused major problems for businesses which relied on the lake and river, including the city's paddleboat operator and the river cruise company.

2009 February 12, “Weir gate fault drains city lake”, in Herald Sun:

(nautical) A boat propelled by a paddle wheel

Naval sources report the amazing rescue of two 65-year-old women who were found floating 400 miles off the coast of California — in a tiny paddleboat!

1996 April 2, Lisa Merakis, “Two women found floating in paddleboat — 400 miles from shore!”, in Weekly World News, →ISSN, page 33, [satirical]:

Outdoors, guests can take a paddleboat and pedal their way around shaded waterways filled with swans and Nile perch

2010, Anne Anderson, Insiders' Guide® to the Greater Tampa Bay Area (Insiders' Guide Series), Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 70:

(nautical, US, Canada, Australia) a pedalo


monoreme

(nautical) A galley with a single row of oars on each side


polyreme

poly- + Latin rēmus (“oar”). See trireme.

A very large galley with more than five rows of oars on each side.


sound truck

A vehicle equipped with loudspeakers, used for advertising, safety announcements, etc.


brake pedal

the pedal in a vehicle, usually a car, which operates the brakes

دَوَّاسَةُ المَكَابِح

the pedal in a vehicle which operates the brakes


autorickshaw

A motorized rickshaw of South Asia and East Asia, often available for hire in the manner of a taxi.


boda-boda

Borrowed from Swahili bodaboda, from English border.

The discussion opened our eyes to what has subsequently become perhaps the most important element of the work, that boda boda drivers are a completely alienated group within Kampala.

2017, Tanu Priya Uteng, Karen Lucas, Urban Mobilities in the Global South, Routledge, →ISBN:

Meanwhile, all but one of the boda-boda drivers interviewed owned a mobile phone and reported that up to twenty clients had their number stored.

2018, Mei-Po Kwan, Tim Schwanen, Geographies of Mobility: Recent Advances in Theory and Method, Routledge, →ISBN:

(East Africa) A bicycle or motorcycle used as a taxi.


mashua

A type of simple fishing vessel found on the coast of East Africa.


shuttle bus

A short-haul minibus, typically privately owned, that shuttles passengers between set locations.


masula

The catamarans accompany the masulah boats through the surf, and when an accident happens endeavour to pick up the unfortunate passengers.

1808–1810, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 90

A type of boat used on the Coromandel Coast of southeast India, typically for travelling between ships and shore. Also more fully masula boat.


matatu

From Swahili matatu, a clipping of mapeni matatu (“thirty cents”, literally “three ten-cent coins”), the flat fare paid for such transportation in the 1960s. The word matatu is from ma- (prefix forming plurals) + -tatu (“three”) (from Proto-Bantu *-tátʊ̀ (“three”)).

clipping

A matatu is also more profitable when driven by its owner than by an employed driver, or if the employee-driver pays in all the earnings and the owner meets the operating costs, rather than when the owner demands a fixed sum of money daily, with the operator keeping the surplus.

1982, United Nations Centre for Human Settlements Habitat News:

For now, matatus made lanes along both sides of tarmac main roads and went over, around or through potholes depending on their speed.

2010, Philo Ikonya, Leading the Night, page 102:

Memories of their sense of trepidation, or even the anger, aboard a matatu could still be visceral.

2017, Kenda Mutongi, Matatu: A History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi, page 98:

The roads were jammed with matatu minibuses sporting cartoonish liveries, and trucks billowing black smoke into the dazzling African light.

2024 January 13, David Pilling, “Revenge of the moderators”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 15:

(Kenya, Uganda) A minivan used as a shared taxi, especially one operating without a licence.

matatu

minivan often used as a share taxi — see also minivan, shared taxi


jeepney

⇒ Hokkien: 集尼車 /集尼车 (chi̍p-nî-chhia)

→ Japanese: ジープニー (jīpunī)

→ Spanish: jeepney

→ Tagalog: dyipni

Uncertain, but likely a blend of jeep + jitney (“minibus, gypsy cab, shared cab”), from their origin in US Army surplus jeeps after World War II.

blend

(Philippines) Synonym of shared taxi, especially one with flamboyant decoration and usually heavily crowded.


dhoni

Guests at the new Anantara Resort Maldives, opened in September on a five-acre island in the South Male Atoll, can shove off at sunset to fish from an indigenous dhoni sailboat, trailing local tackle — that is, a baited hook on a fishing line.

2007 January 28, Elaine Glusac, “It’s Night. Shall We Snorkel, Cycle or Hike?”, in New York Times:

A handcrafted sailboat with a motor or lateen sails, resembling a dhow, that is used in the Maldives.


mokihi

A Māori raft made from dried flower stalks bound together with flax twine.


ro-ro

en-noun

ro-ro (countable and uncountable, plural ro-ros)

roll-on roll-off
roll-on roll-off#English

(transport, nautical) Abbreviation of roll-on roll-off.


roll-on roll-off

Stranraer Harbour station was the traditional connection for ferry services. But as competition from roll-on/roll-off traffic intensified P&O Ferries started a new service from Cairnryan in 1973, which reduced the shipping distance.

2020 November 18, “Industry Insider: Improving rail connectivity”, in Rail, page 68:

(transport, nautical) Of a form of marine vessel which allows wheeled vehicles to be driven on and off.


triga

From Latin triga, a contraction of ter or tri- (“thrice”) + iuga (“yoked”).

(historical) A three-horse chariot used by the Ancient Romans.


footwell

to foreclose the possibility completely. she packed the footwell of the passenger seat with her duffel bag and camping gear and buckled a stack of seed trays on to the seat.

2023, Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, page 55:

The space for the feet in front of a seat in a vehicle


people mover

From PeopleMover, a Disneyland attraction from the 1960s.

HS2 Ltd has issued a periodic indicative notice to start pre-procurement market engagement and consultation on the planned automated people mover which will link the High Speed 2 Interchange station with the NEC, Birmingham International station and Birmingham Airport.

2020 April 8, “Network News: HS2 begins Birmingham people mover process”, in Rail, page 16:

A fully automated, grade-separated mass transit system, typically serving a small area such as an airport.


people carrier

(UK, Ireland) A car or minivan designed for spaciousness.


chicken strips

"The harder you lean into corners, the more of the tyre you use. This means that a biker who rides hard will have an evenly-worn tyre. A biker who rides gently will not use the outer edges of the rubber resulting in a phenomenon known as 'chicken strips'. These are very uncool and a beacon to those in the know that the rider is a novice."¹

"At our first gas stop, I was thrilled to note that the "chicken strips," those bands of virgin rubber found on the edges of most Midwestern riders' rear tires, had been burned off the Yamaha's 17-inch Bridgestone Battalax BT-20s. In other words, I was hitting some serious (for me) lean angles."²

"Is your chain due for replacement? Are your tires so worn that only the chicken strips left on the sides remain? Replace them now."³

(slang, motorcycling, humorous) The band of unscuffed tire surface at the outer edges of the contact surface.


air ambulance

An air ambulance hovered overhead before landing on the track. Frank held his father’s hand through the wreckage, as the firemen tried to cut him out of the car.

2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

An aircraft (especially a form of helicopter) equipped as an ambulance.


Chrysler

en-proper-noun

Chrysler (countable and uncountable, plural Chryslers)

From the motor company founded by and named after Walter Chrysler in 1925. Surname derives from German Kreißler.

From the 1920s through the 1960s, Chrysler was known within the automotive industry for impressive engineering.

A former motor vehicle manufacturer, the Chrysler Corporation (1925–1998); its successor corporations still informally called by that name, most recently Stellantis's North American subsidiary.


lunar module

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-lunar module.wav

The spacecraft used in the Apollo missions that was designed for the landing on the surface of the Moon; the lunar excursion module.


marshrutka

From Russian маршру́тка (maršrútka), colloquial clipping of маршру́тное такси́ (maršrútnoje taksí, “routed taxi”), from маршру́т (maršrút, “planned route”) and такси́ (taksí, “taxi”).

(Russia and nearby countries) Synonym of shared taxi in former Soviet contexts, particularly a minibus on fixed routes.

երթուղային տաքսի

shared Soviet-style minibus — see also shared taxi, minibus


patache

Borrowed from Spanish patache, of uncertain origin. The carriage sense is after French.

A horse-drawn carriage with two wheels used in France.


swingarm

At the rear, you'll find a single, centrally mounted shock, the now-familiar single-sided swingarm and BMW's Paralever shaft-drive system, which does away with most of a shafty's chassis-jacking bugaboos.

1994, Cycle World Magazine, volume 33, number 1, page 49:

At the rear, stiffer springs, a new aluminum swingarm and a redesigned linkage for the suspension all benefit on-road behavior, though there is now an inch less ground clearance.

2007 September 9, Jerry Garrett, “Updating a Dual-Purpose Stalwart”, in New York Times:

(motorcycling) The main component of the rear suspension of most modern motorcycles and ATVs; holds the rear axle in place while swinging vertically to allow the suspension to absorb the shock from bumps in the road.


racebike

Powerful engines and sticky tires make high-side accidents a threat on modern racebikes.

2009 August 23, Dexter Ford, “Slip-Sliding Suspended”, in New York Times:

(motorcycling) A motorcycle designed for racing


SUA

Initialism of sudden unintended acceleration.


on-roader

A vehicle designed to be driven principally on normal roads; an on-road vehicle


mokoro

The mokoro owner I hired happily piled us all into a single, rather small craft and we set off over a flooded meadow, covered with barely half a metre of water.

Several companies offer trips by mokoro, lasting from one to three days, although almost all these trips are run by the same community trust.

2007, Chris McIntyre, Botswana, Bradt Travel Guides, page 165:

A dugout canoe, especially as used in the Okavango Swamps of Botswana.


gabbart

(nautical) A lighter or barge; a small one-masted sailing or coasting vessel designed for inland navigation.


poker run

(motorcycling) A motorcycling event where each participant pays a fee, and then follows a course with checkpoints, at each of which a playing card is drawn. At the last checkpoint, the rider with the best poker hand is the winner. Typically poker runs end with a party, and the proceeds benefit a charity.


dice run

(motorcycling) Similar to a poker run, an organized event where motorcyclists pay an entry fee and then follow a prescribed course with checkpoints, at each of which dice are rolled and the result recorded. At the last checkpoint a winner is determined and prizes awarded, typically at a party. Proceeds usually go to benefit a charity.


motorcoach

There are also at present under construction 36 additional powerful electric motorcoaches of the latest type, used on high-speed cross-country trains.

1962 July, “Beyond the Channel: Switzerland: Swiss-built couchette and sleeping cars”, in Modern Railways, page 58:

Alternative form of motor coach (a rail vehicle)


motorbus

en-noun

motorbus (plural motorbuses or motorbusses)

motorbuses (plural)
motorbusses (plural)

“[…]a motor-’bus scorching round into the Square from the Haymarket was swept into the air, and shivered into fragments.” “Professor,” I exclaimed, “a motor-’bus!” “I know how impossible it must sound,” said Professor Henry Tellurin,[…]

In the afternoon the air became black with locusts, and some of the women shrieked, sinking to the floor of the motorbus and covering their hair with traveling rugs.

1930 October 11, F. Scott Fitzgerald, “One Trip Abroad”, in The Saturday Evening Post:

The world beyond the sugarcane fields was remote and the village was linked to it only by villagers’ carts and bicycles, wholesalers’ vans and lorries, and an occasional private motorbus that ran to no timetable and along no fixed route.

1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part One, Chapter 4:


four-wheel drive

four-wheel drive (countable and uncountable, plural four-wheel drives)

A four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously.


LEM

(US, space science) Originally Lunar Excursion Module, latterly Lunar Module.


LM

(US, space flight) Initialism of lunar module.


banana boat

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-banana boat.wav

(nautical) A ship designed to transport bananas.


power slide

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-power slide.wav

(motorcycling, driving) The act of sliding with the wheels being driven.


picard

Inherited from Middle English picard. Doublet of Picard.

Others, used commonly as fishing boats and in trade with Ireland, were “picards”, named often in the Tolsey Court books as pledges for debts, and worth about £8.

1933, E. M. Carus Wilson, “The Overseas Trade of Bristol”, in Eileen Power, M. M. Postan, editors, Studies in English Trade in the 15th Century, page 239:

Irish picards were noted as leaving Bridgewater or Minehead one day with small cargoes of salt or victuals, and returning the next or even the same day with loads of fish.

1947, Dorothy Burwash, English Merchant Shipping, 1460–1540:

Picards were very small. They were sailing lighters of some kind, primarily used to carry the catches from fishing boats at sea to port.

2015, Ian Friel, Henry V’s Navy: The Sea-Road to Agincourt and Conquest, 1413–1422, →ISBN:

(historical, nautical) A type of light, seaworthy vessel used in trade and the transport of fish in Britain and Ireland in the late medieval and early modern period.


shuttlecraft

shuttlecraft (plural shuttlecrafts or shuttlecraft)

shuttlecrafts (plural)
shuttlecraft (plural)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-shuttlecraft.wav

A relatively small spacecraft, usually capable of atmospheric transport.


ERV

(biblical) Initialism of English Revised Version.


ERV

ERV (countable and uncountable, plural ERVs)

Sequences derived from ERVs [...] appear to be heavily involved in gene regulatory networks.

2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, page 147:

endogenous retrovirus
endogenous retrovirus#English

(countable, virology, biology, genetics) Initialism of endogenous retrovirus.

Earth return vehicle
Earth return vehicle#English

(countable, astronautics, space flight) Initialism of Earth return vehicle.


SLV

(astronautics) Abbreviation of space launch vehicle.

(astronautics) Abbreviation of satellite launch vehicle.


spaceliner

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-spaceliner.wav

A commercial spacecraft that carries passengers.


Aston

en-proper noun

Aston (countable and uncountable, plural Astons)

From Old English ēast (“east”) and ton (“town, village”). Doublet of Easton.

Cheshire West and Chester
Cheshire West and Chester#English

A small village (Aston-by-Sutton) and civil parish (without a council) in Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire (OS grid ref SJ5578).


transport ship

(nautical) A ship that is used to transport military personnel; a troopship.

transportskib

a ship that is used to transport military personnel


caroche

From French caroche, from Italian carroccio.

(obsolete) A form of stately carriage or chariot


charret

From Old French charrete, diminutive of charre.


Kia

The universal mind or ultimate power, in the dualist occultism of Austin Osman Spare.


Kia

Irene's conversation with Christina “Kia” Strömborg brought nothing new.

2014, Helene Tursten, The Fire Dance, →ISBN:

I owe to my wife, Anna Christina (Kia) De Ozorio Nobre, not only a life full of love, but also the initial idea of dedicating more attention [...]

2014, Luciano Floridi, The Fourth Revolution, →ISBN:

A diminutive of the female given name Christina


Kia

From Korean 기아 (Kia), from 起 (ki, “to arise”) + 亞 (a), from 亞細亞 (asea, “Asia”), in turn from Latin Asia.

A Korean conglomerate company and brand name.


Buran

From the Russian бура́н (burán, “snowstorm”).

A Soviet spacecraft, modeled after the American Space Shuttle.


soapbox car

A vehicle without a motor, often made from wood or other common household materials.


speronara

From Italian speronara, Sicilian spirunara.

'Whilst my boat was preparing (a Maltese speronara, with a crew of twelve men, selected for their knowledge of the coast,) I wrote two letters, one to Malta, and the other to Lisbon, stating the loss of the ship.

1850, William O. S. Gilly, Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy; between 1793 and 1849:

We had the ponente, or west-wind, all night, but the speronara moved sluggishly, and in the morning it changed to the greco-levante, or north-east.

1863, Bayard Taylor, The Lands of the Saracen:

(nautical, historical) A small, usually single-masted, sailing boat, used especially for transport between Sicily and Malta, remaining in use along the coast of Sicily until the mid-20th century.


omafiets

Borrowed from Dutch omafiets, literally "granny bike"


buoy tender

(nautical) Someone charged with looking after buoys.


longship

From Middle English *langschip, from Old English langscip (“a longship, a large warship”), equivalent to long + ship. Cognate with German Langschiff, Swedish långskepp, Icelandic langskip, Norwegian langskip, Dutch langschip.

inh

A type of naval vessel made by the Vikings.


cracky wagon

They knew the lineage of all the boys and girls who crowded into old cracky wagons, rode four to a horse or footed it out to the lake.

1936, August 18, The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana, volume 10, Section 4, Page 16

(US, Western Pennsylvania) A one-horse wagon without springs.


ragtop

driving a ragtop

put the ragtop down

Johnny imagines all manner of chrome gadgetry that he could kipe and give to his father to jazz up his ’fifty-six Ford Vicky ragtop.

1987 [1984], James Ellroy, chapter 22, in Because the Night, New York: Avon, →ISBN, page 189:

Oh me, oh my oh
Would you look at Miss Ohio
She's runnin around with the ragtop down
Says I wanna do right but not right now
I know all about it
So you don't have to shout it
I'm gonna straighten it out somehow
Yeah I wanna do right but not right now

2017 [2003], Gillian Welch (lyrics and music), “Look at Miss Ohio”, in Soul Journey, performed by Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Amanda Shires, Jason Isbell:

(informal) A convertible (automobile); its convertible top.


heavy-duty vehicle

en-noun

heavy-duty vehicle (plural heavy-duty vehicles)


light-duty vehicle

light-duty vehicle (plural light-duty vehicles)

gross vehicle weight rating
gross vehicle weight rating

(US) Any motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) or less.


gross vehicle weight rating

gross vehicle weight rating (plural gross vehicle weight ratings)

GVWR includes the weight of the vehicle itself plus fuel, passengers, cargo, and trailer tongue weight.

The maximum allowable total mass of a road vehicle or trailer when loaded.


stanhope

From Stanhope (“a surname”). Named after Captain Hon. Henry Fitzroy Stanhope, for whom it was first built.

Of late years, cabriolets, and English stanhopes, and tilburys, have been introduced into St. Petersburgh; but the real national carriage for the town is the Droshky.

1829, Augustus Bozzi Granville, St. Petersburgh, a journal of travels to and from that capital:

A gig, buggy or light phaeton, typically with a high seat and closed back.


dragline excavator

dragline excavator (plural dragline excavators)

In mining with a dragline excavator, the upper half to two-thirds of the alluvium contains too little of the previous metals to warrant washing; hence this part of the overburden is lifted by the excavator and dumped to one side of the cut.

1940, J. B. Mertie, Jr., “Economic Geology”, in The Goodnews Platinum Deposits, Alaska (United States Department of the Interior, Geological Survey Bulletin; no. 918), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 61:

A dragline excavator has a large cutting bucket suspended from the end of a boom. The operator first lowers the bucket mouth down where earth is to be removed, then a second cable—the dragline—pulls the bucket across the surface. The weight of the bucket and the pull of the dragline make a blade at the mouth of the bucket dig into the topsoil, filling the bucket as it moves. When the bucket is full, its contents are tipped by lifting and inverting the bucket over a waiting dump truck. Dragline excavators are particularly useful in strip mining, where they remove the overburden or topsoil.

2003, “Earthmoving Machinery”, in Wendy Horobin, editor, How It Works: Science and Technology, 3rd edition, volume 5, Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, page 703, column 2:

An alternative to the power shovel is the dragline excavator[…]. At the end of a long boom is a sheave over which a hoisting rope passes to a bucket, which is hauled towards the machine by a second rope, thus picking up its load like a drag scraper. As soon as the bucket is filled, it is lifted into the air; the excavator is turned until its boom is above the dump, and the bucket is discharged.

2008, Douglas C. McVarish, American Industrial Archaeology: A Field Guide, Walnut Creek, Calif.: Left Coast Press, →ISBN:

Teams of horses and a dragline excavator, an earth mover atop skids, worked to repair, strengthen, and raise older levees, create a new, two-mile long river channel, and build new levees.

2013, Paul J. P. Sandul, “Both ‘Country Town’ and ‘Bustling Metropolis’: How Boosterism, Suburbs, and Narrative Helped Shape Sacramento’s Identity and Environmental Sensibilities”, in Christopher J. Castaneda, Lee M. A. Simpson, editors, River City and Valley Life: An Environmental History of the Sacramento Region (History of the Urban Environment), Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, →ISBN, page 171:

Any of several very large vehicles used for lifting, especially in the process of mining: basically an excavator which drags its bucket to fill it.

драглайн

any of several very large vehicles used for lifting


vardo

Borrowed from Angloromani vardo, from Romani vordon, from Ossetian уӕрдон (wærdon), from Proto-Iranian *wart- (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *wart-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn, rotate”).

der

A traditional horse-drawn wagon used by the Romani.


tarantass

Three kinds of conveyances are available: the telega, or cart without springs, which has to be changed at every station, and for which a charge of about 8d. is made at every stage; the kibitka, or cart (in winter a sledge) with a hood; and the tarantas, a kind of carriage on wooden springs, which admits of the traveller lying down full length, and which can be made very comfortable at night.

1868, “Route 25: London to Pekin […] ”, in Handbook for Travellers in Russia, Poland, and Finland, 2nd edition, London: John Murray, page 329:

From Samarkand, using that peculiarly Russian means of transport, the springless, horse-drawn tarantass, Curzon reached Tashkent by the post road in thirty uncomfortable hours.

1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 396:

A low horse-drawn carriage without springs used in Russia, capable of having its wheels replaced with runners during the winter.

таранта́с

a low horse-drawn carriage without springs used in Russia


subterrene

From Latin subterrēnus. By surface analysis, sub- + terrene.

With a deafening screech of metal upon rock—which surely must echo through all the recesses of the Mountain, and waken all its nightmare brood!—the subterrene smashed through the wall and came to rest beside them.

1956, Arthur C. Clarke, chapter 1, in The City and the Stars:

In the first field tests, a series of holes 2 inches in diameter and 12 feet deep were sunk with the rock-melting device, or subterrene.

1972, American Nuclear Society, Nuclear News, volume 15, page 47:

… “The beauty of the Subterrene is that, as it burrows through the rock hundreds of feet below the surface, it heats whatever stone it encounters into molten rock, or magma, which cools after the Subterrene has moved on. …

2009, November, Mark Ellis as James Axler, Outlanders 051: Warlord of the Pit

(rare) A machine for drilling or tunneling underground.

подзе́мная ло́дка

a machine for drilling or tunneling underground


Crown Vic

He stood up, wasting precious seconds and knocking his chair over as he continued to stare upward through the window at the Crown Vic.

2003, Ed Howdershelt, An Encounter in Atlanta:

When the Crown Vic rammed the Lincoln's rear fender, they were spun around facing back the way they'd come.

As soon as I appeared, the Crown Vic fired up its engine, and the driver of the van started talking into a walkie-talkie.

2010, Moxie Mezcal, Concrete Underground:

(US, informal) A Ford Crown Victoria motor car.


skippet

Compare Icelandic skip, English skipper. See ship.

Vpon the banck they sitting did espy / A daintie damzell, dressing of her heare, / By whom a litle skippet floting did appeare

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14:


baris

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris), from Coptic ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ (baare), from Demotic br, from Egyptian bꜣjr b-bA-A-y:r*Z1-P1 Doublet of barge, bark and barque.

lbor

(historical) A type of flat-bottomed freighter used on the Nile in Ancient Egypt, powered either by sail, or by being towed by a downstream raft driven by the current, while dragging a stone anchor to keep the course steady.


SEAT

(US, aviation, firefighting) Acronym of single-engine air tanker.


carplane

Outside Bedrock headed for a carplane stop in a meditative mood.

1951, Alfred Elton Van Vogt, The weapon shops of Isher:

Unlike some other fictional portrayals of future family life — which simply place traditional family structures in a high-tech futuristic setting of carplanes, fully automated appliances, interplanetary civilizations, and robot servants […]

2002, David M. Newman, Elizabeth Grauerholz, Sociology of families:

The sides of the carplane will open by moving slowly down under the floor of the car. There won't be any maps and we'll never get lost because carplanes will always know where to go.

2009, Caroline Nixon, Michael Tomlinson, Kid's Box 6 Pupil's Book, Volume 6:

(science fiction) A vehicle that can drive on land like a car or fly like an aeroplane.


battlebus

A bus or coach used as a personnel carrier for combatants to deliver them to the battlefield and then rolled on its side to provide cover against firearms.


starcraft

en-noun

starcraft (plural starcrafts or starcraft)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-starcraft.wav

A vehicle which travels to or among the stars.


lapstrake

lapstrake (usually uncountable, plural lapstrakes)


handcycle

Metzdorf finished the New York City Marathon and an Army Ten-Miler at Fort Bragg using a handcycle.

2007 May 27, The Associated Press, “Marathons Put Military in a Different Light”, in New York Times:

A land vehicle resembling a bicycle or tricycle but powered by the arms rather than the legs.


handbike

From hand + bike (despite the fact that most handcycles resemble tricycles, not bicycles).


bucketwheel

An excavator having a series of bucket-shaped scoops on a rotating wheel or belt


longliner

(nautical) A fisherman or fishing boat that uses longlines.


rustbucket

That sagging old rustbucket is designed like a garbage scow!

1967, David Gerrold, The Trouble with Tribbles, spoken by Korax:

(slang) An old, neglected vehicle, usually a car, a freighter, or a truck.


pumpkinseed

From pumpkin + seed. The fish is so named for its small body that is shaped much like a pumpkin seed.

The current menu includes curried goat, rack of lamb with a pumpkinseed crust, and braised short ribs.

2007 June 10, “Newcomers, End to End”, in New York Times:

Alternative form of pumpkin seed (“the seed of a pumpkin”).


Boris bike

After former Mayor of London Boris Johnson, associated with the launch of the hire scheme.

Alan Waller, a sustainability analyst, says he is happy to be followed to the gym, provided the bikes are not referred to as "Boris bikes". "The scheme was secured under Ken Livingstone," he says. "Boris took all the credit. I try not to call them Boris bikes."

[2014 July 26, Paula Cocozza, “A day in the life of a London Boris bike”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

London’s blue “Boris bikes” are to be painted red under a seven-year sponsorship deal with Santander worth around £7m a year, it has been announced.

2015 February 27, Gwyn Topham, “‘Boris bikes’ to be painted red under Santander deal”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK, informal) A bicycle offered for hire in London, England as part of a bike-share scheme launched in 2010.


GCWR

w:Vehicle weight#Gross combined weight rating

(automotive) Initialism of gross combination weight rating: the maximum weight rating of a vehicle including its contents and the weight of anything being towed.


GVWR

gross vehicle weight rating
gross vehicle weight rating#English

(automotive) Abbreviation of gross vehicle weight rating. - Maximum allowed weight of a vehicle and its contents.


andor

From Portuguese andor, from Malayalam, from Sanskrit हिन्दोल (hindola, “swinging cradle, hammock litter, dooly”). Compare dooly from Sanskrit दुल् (dul) via Hindi.

der

P. della Valle writes in the same strain: "And these two, the palankins and the andors [a kind of doli] also differ from one another, for in the andor the cane which sustains it is, as it is in the reti, straight; whereas in the palankin, for the greater convenience of the inmate, and to give more room for raising his head, the cane is arched upwards like this, _∩_..."

1916 July, Henry Yule & al., "Padre Maestro Fray Seb. Manrique in Bengal (1628–Sept. 11, 1629)", Bengal Past & Present, Vol. XIII, No. 25, p. 32

(India, historical) Synonym of dandy or hammock litter, a strong cloth suspended from a pole or set of poles used as an open sedan chair.


golf cart

a small four-wheeled motorized vehicle, used to travel around a golf course.


dooly

From Hindi डोली (ḍolī), from डोला (ḍolā, “litter”) + -ई (-ī, “forming diminutives”), from Sanskrit दोल (dōlā, “dangling cradle; litter”), from दुल् (dul, “to swing”). Compare andor from Sanskrit हिन्दोल (hindola) via Portuguese.

The dhulí is a slight bamboo framework covered with coarse cloth, about two and a half feet square, with a bedding made of string woven across, on which the passenger sits. It is slung on a stout bamboo pole, and carried by two or four men.

1877, D. B. Allen et al., “A Statistical Account of Bengal”, in Districts of Gayá and Sháhábád, volume 12, pages 81-82:

He said I should not be able to ride much farther, as the pass beyond Sultanpoor was utterly impracticable for horses; coolies, however, awaited me with a dooly, one of those low litters slung on a bamboo, in which you may travel swiftly and without effort, but to the destruction of the digestive organs.

(India, now chiefly historical) A basic Indian litter or sedan chair made of poles, ropes, and a seat or cloth.

He also, in conjunction with Private John Ryan, rushed into the street under a heavy fire, and took Captain Arnold, 1st Madras Fusiliers, out of a dooly, and brought him into the house, that officer being again hit while they were so doing.

I thought at first I was as good as done for; however, on regaining a little strength, I looked around, and seeing none of our men in the place, and thinking it more than probable, from what I knew of their character, that the very men whom I had been endeavouring to save might take it into their heads to give me the "coup de grace" now I was left alone, I made a desperate effort, got on my legs, and managed to hobble out, when I soon found some of our men, who supported me until a dooly could be brought, into which I was placed, and was soon on my way to the doctor.

1840, T.W.E. Holdsworth, Campaign of the Indus:

(India, archaic) Synonym of stretcher, a basic litter used for transport of the ill and injured.


dropship

I'm sending down five more dropships, combat EMVs, and a thopter gunship.

1997 September 16, Dan Simmons, The Rise of Endymion, New York: Bantam, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 363:

IFF confirmed. Contact is Pelican Dropship Kilo 23. Over.

2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: Sierra 117:

(science fiction) A flying transport that drops troops or equipment onto a planet, etc.


clown car

From a comedy routine first invented by the Cole Brothers Circus during the 1950s.

At the grocery store, a clown car as everyone unfolds, gets out, stretches legs and goes inside, stopping a moment in appreciation of air conditioning.

2007, Kansas City Metropolitan Verse, volume 2, page 26:

So, I watched as the adults (four) and children (seven) indulged in some sort of vehicular limbo dance as bodies swerved, behinds slid over, and the body parts of several children poked through the windows as if seeking escape. After a few minutes of this, a woman emerged and the tiny clown car went on its way.

2010, Carolyn A. Thériault, Stealing Fatima's Hand, page 106:

Four people in a bathroom the size of a broom closet is a clown car.

2013, Tracy Beckerman, Lost in Suburbia: A Momoir:

(by extension) A car or small enclosed space with too many people in it.


bocha

When the compilation by Williamson was first examined in order to correct his vulgar mode of spelling Hindoostanee words, a good while since, the number seemed so formidable, that innovation, even from a wrong system to a right one, was then indefinitely suspended; but... it would be unjust to postpone emendation any farther... incorrect... bochah,... correct... bocha.

1825, John Borthwick Gilchrist editing Thomas Williamson as The General East India Guide and Vade Mecum..., Appendix No. IV, pp. 652 & 658

Sir Salar Jung was proceeding to the palace of the Nizam on his bocha, a sort of state palanquin, in order to be present at the customary Eed durbar... when two shots in rapid succession were fired.

1868 February 7, "Englishman", "Attempted Assassination of Sir Salar Jung...", Hyderabad Times, Vol. III, p. 41

[…] the Amir-i-Kabir, seated in a "Bocha" (palanquin), had also arrived at the gate of the Royal Palace […]

1931, Server Jung Bahadur, translated by Bahadur Yar Jung, My Life, page 139:

[…] the bocha, the chair-palanquin […]

1995, The India Magazine of Her People and Culture, volume 16, page 17:

(India, historical) A two-door sedan chair.


jolly boat

>? Gulf Arabic: جالبوت (jālbōt)

Boats for Ships. A Jolly-boat. A Long-boat. A Skiffe. A Pinnace. A Water-boat. A Yaul.

1696, John Houghton, Collection for Improvement of Husbandry and Trade, London, Issue 187

[H]e went down the ship's side […] and, seating himself in the stern sheets of the jolly-boat, took the helm, pushed off, and four young lads rowed him ashore.

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 346

When they reached the brig, they found that the jolly-boat had been lowered and laid alongside.

1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 139:

A type of ship's boat of the 17th to 19th centuries, used mainly to ferry personnel to and from the ship.


trishaw

Hardman ran to the corner and jumped into a trishaw. The driver was maddeningly slow and stupid.

1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 378:

“Where are all those uniformed people who are always ready to beat civilians?” asked a trishaw taxi driver, who said he did not want to be identified because he feared retribution.

2008 May 5, The Associated Press, “Cyclone Kills More Than 350 in Myanmar”, in New York Times:


tin Lizzie

Unknown, perhaps from the use of Lizzie as a generic name given to horses.

Fate, in the guise of a rural free delivery carrier and a Ford, passed by the front gate. . . . "I don' see why he don't carry a whip," mused Jeb Case. "A-gidappin' to that there tin lizzie," he muttered disgustedly, "jes' like it was as good as a hoss."

1917, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 6, in The Oakdale Affair:

The Model T became a legend. . . . The Tin Lizzie rattled and banged across the country.

1947 April 21, “Michigan: Detroit Dynast”, in Time:

(informal, dated) The Ford Motor Company's Model T automobile.


garvey

(nautical) A type of boat which was originally flat-bottomed, reminiscent of a sled, and historically sailed around New Jersey.


sailcraft

en-noun

sailcraft (countable and uncountable, plural sailcraft or sailcrafts)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sailcraft.wav

But a discussion paper published in 2006 by the Brookings Institution called for a much bigger commitment, with government prizes ranging from $15 million for an Earth-Moon solar sailcraft race to as much as $100 million a year for improvements in African agriculture. Mr. McCain’s own proposal for spurring development of alternative energy sources was foreshadowed by a bill introduced last year in Congress that would establish a prize for breakthroughs in the development of hydrogen power.

2008 June 29, George Johnson, “Eureka! Where Do I Cash the Check?”, in New York Times:

(astronautics) A spacecraft endowed with sail for propulsion purposes.


C-pillar

(automotive) The vertical support dividing a car's rear window from its rear windscreen, or, if the car has an additional window and D-pillar, the support dividing the central and rear windows.


chain ferry

(nautical) A ferry that is pulled through the water via an attached chain.


hardtail

A bicycle or motorcycle without rear suspension.


sambuq

(nautical) A type of dhow (“small Arabian boat”).


e-bike

The e-bikes glide past slow, one of the kids turning his bike around. He's tall, with his black hair slicked back with grease, shining in the glow of the other bikes' lights. In the sockets of his eyes she can see only mirrors. Artificial Sonys. The kid's ironed.

1993 January 31, Ridley McIntyre, “STORY: GHOSTDANCER (2)”, in rec.games.frp.misc (Usenet), retrieved 2019-03-19, message-ID <0!w3=jd@rpi.edu>:

ELECTRIC BIKES ("E-BIKES") Because e-bike speeds and power are more similar to human-powered bicycles than to motorcycles, I believe their users will need bicycle-style traffic-skills education (Effective Electric Cycling?). I also believe e-bikes, with strict power or acceleration limits, should be allowed to use bike lanes -- think about it.

1993 November 13, John Ciccarelli, “Motorcycles, bicycles, "e-bikes"”, in rec.bicycles.soc (Usenet), retrieved 2019-03-19, message-ID <2c1n2d$j6o@agate.berkeley.edu>:

There seems to be a lot of interest emerging about "E-Bikes." I'm not sure of the appropriate place to discuss them. I've seen things on the EV mailing list, and on several .bicycles. groups. Perhaps there is some interest on the hpv mailing list as well--I have't subscribed for a while. Is it worth starting a mailing list or newsgroup for them?

1993 November 13, Charlie Sullivan, “Re: Motorcycles, bicycles, "e-bikes"”, in rec.bicycles.soc (Usenet), retrieved 2019-03-19, message-ID <2c1n2d$j6o@agate.berkeley.edu>:

I've been working on Ebike for 2 years. Read about several attempts around world and US. First patent in 1895. Mine weighs 85 lbs and does help uphill. Working on testing. I decided to build only because I wanted a "poor person's" ZEV. Weight will go down with technology over time. No hurry. Lots of stuff to do, learn. No EV is commercially viable in US except trike in Florida. Happy to talk with those interested.

1994 September 1, Cycle0path, “Re: Electric Bicycle (again)”, in rec.bicycles.misc (Usenet), retrieved 2019-03-19, message-ID <343obu$l3t@search01.news.aol.com>:

E-bike info? Anyone have any info on an electric add-on motor for bikes built by a company called "ZAP" ?

1996 November 11, dhammel, “E-bike info?”, in rec.bicycles.misc (Usenet), retrieved 2019-03-19, message-ID <19961111183300.NAA04270@ladder01.news.aol.com>:

Another important difference: e-bikes can legally travel in the bike lane; scooters and mopeds cannot.

2010, David L. Kurtz, Contemporary Marketing 2011, page 377:

(informal) A bicycle powered by an electric motor.

motorcycle

differentiated by societal convention more than by qualitative differences; legally differentiated by maximum speed and power rating in many jurisdictions


Soyuz

From Russian Сою́з (Sojúz), from сою́з (sojúz, “union”).

Any of a series of Soviet, later Russian spacecraft.

Any of a series of Soviet/Russian space capsules


coble

From Middle English coble, from Cumbric coubal (“skiff”) (compare Welsh ceubal).

Its streets fan out towards the clifftops, and its sheltered North Landing harbours open-decked fishing boats, called 'cobles'.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 188, about Flamborough:

(nautical) A small flat-bottomed fishing boat suitable for launching from a beach, found on the north-east coast of England and in Scotland.


pahi

(historical) A large war canoe of Tahiti.


brisky

head

brisky (plural form uncertain: briskys or briskies)

uncertain: briskys (plural)
briskies (plural)

Och! and wouldn't it be a blessed thing for your spirrits if ye cud lay your two peepers jist, upon Sir Pathrick O'Grandison, Barronitt, when he is all riddy drissed for the hopperer, or stipping into the Brisky for the drive into the Hyde Park.

c. 1840, Edgar Allan Poe, Why the Little Frenchman Wears his Hand in a Sling:

Well, the nex day came: at 12 the carridge-and-four was waiting at the ambasdor's doar; and Miss Griffin and the faithfle Kicksey were punctial to the apintment.
I don't wish to digscribe the marridge seminary—how the embasy chapling jined the hands of this loving young couple—how one of the embasy footmin was called in to witness the marridge—how Miss wep and fainted as usial—and how Deuceace carried her, fainting, to the brisky, and drove off to Fontingblo.

1841, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 17, in Memoirs of Mr. Charles J. Yellowplush:

The captain called for his carriage. . . . [T]he platterer was glad that Rossi's choice of transport was a brisky, and not a smaller vehicle. . . . Two horses gave it power and its light body, made largely of woven wicker, gave it roominess and speed.

2010, Robin Adair, Death and the Running Patterer, Penguin, online edition

(rare, probably obsolete, possibly nonstandard) A britchka, a type of horse-drawn carriage.


britchka

From Russian бричка (brička), or its source, Polish bryczka, diminutive form of bryka (“carriage”), probably ultimately from Italian biroccio.

[H]e cracked his whip and the britchka leapt forward with increased speed over the cobblestones.

1842, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (trans. C. J. Hogarth), chapter 2, in Dead Souls:

The appearance of our caravan was curious and grotesque. Our britchka was drawn by three camels, taken in tow by a man on foot.

1847, Xavier Hommaire De Hell, chapter 22, in Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus, &c:

A britzka came up at this moment as the three men were speaking.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 52, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

At length, Vassili got up and covered over the britchka, the coachman wrapped himself up in his cloak and lifted his cap to make the sign of the cross at each successive thunderclap, and the horses pricked up their ears and snorted.

1854, Leo Tolstoy (trans. C. J. Hogarth), Boyhood, ch. 2 – The Thunderstorm

The conveyance stopped, a straw-coloured britshka, the summer conveyance of Count Chojnicki.

2002, Josepth Roth, translated by Michael Hofmann, The Radetsky March, Folio Society, published 2015, page 158:

(now chiefly historical) A type of horse-drawn carriage, with a foldable roof covering.


thalamegos

Borrowed from Ancient Greek θᾰλᾰμηγός (thălămēgós).

bor+

(historical) A state barge fitted with cabins, on the Nile


rumbler

(obsolete, slang) A four-wheeled horse-drawn cab.


koff

Borrowed from Dutch kof (“koff”), Middle Dutch cof (“stable; barn”).

(historical) A type of two-masted Dutch vessel.


double-ender

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-double-ender.wav

(nautical) A vessel capable of moving both forwards and backwards, having bow and rudder at each end.


herdic

Named after Peter Herdic of Pennsylvania, the inventor.

A low-hung horse-drawn carriage with two or four wheels, a back entrance, and side seats.


budgerow

/ˈbədʒəˌroʊ/

In a short time after a budgerow lay beside the vessel, and notice was given that it came to convey about fifteen passengers on shore.

1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter XV, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 218:

A double-masted houseboat of capacious dimensions, the budgerow’s hull was painted blue and grey, to match the Raskhali estate's livery […]

2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 39:

(India, chiefly historical) A kind of large river barge.


lorcha

From Portuguese lorcha, of unclear origin; see the Portuguese entry for more.

At the same time, the fact must not be lost sight of, that the primary cause of the war was the affair on the lorcha "Arrow."

1901, Charles S. Leavenworth, The Arrow War with China:

(nautical) A kind of light vessel used on the coast of China, having the hull built on a European model, and the rigging like that of a Chinese junk.


Indiaman

No place is so propitious to the formation either of close friendships or of deadly enmities as an Indiaman

1841, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Warren Hastings:

Buried treasures are naturally among the problems which have come to Mr. [Sherlock] Holmes. One genuine case was accompanied by a diagram here reproduced. [...] Each Indiaman in those days had its own semaphore code, and it is conjectured that the three marks upon the left are signals from a three-armed semaphore.

1924 September, Arthur Conan Doyle, “Sidelights on Sherlock Holmes”, in Memories and Adventures, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, →OCLC, page 110:

(nautical) A large ship that traded between Britain and India on behalf of the East India Company.


gondolet

From Italian gondoletta, diminutive of gondola.

Then, come to me when daylight sets;
Sweet! then come to me,
When smoothly go our gondolets
O'er the moonlight sea

Thomas Moore, "Oh come to me when the dayligt sets", in National Airs (184)


garookuh

(archaic) A small fishing vessel of the Persian Gulf.


frigatoon

From Italian fregatone. Compare French frégaton and see frigate.

(nautical, historical) A Venetian vessel with a square stern, having only a mainmast, jigger mast, and bowsprit; also a sloop of war ship-rigged.


quadragintireme

As to the Quadragintiremes, or vessels usually described as having forty ranks or tiers of oars, we cannot reconcile the report to our understandings, except by supposing them nothing more than galleys fitted with as many oars in each rank.

1799, The Naval Chronicle, volume 1, page 132:

(nautical, historical) A vessel with 40 rows of oars.


gabert

Compare French gabare, Breton kobar, gobar.

In a block or pully, near the head of the mast of a gabert, now lying at the Broomielaw, there is chaffinch's nest

1793, anonymous author, Buckinghamshire Herald:

(Scotland) A lighter, or vessel for inland navigation.


pykar

Borrowed from Bengali পাইকার (paikar), from Hindustani پیکار (pekār) / पैकार (paikār), from Classical Persian پای کار (pāy-kār).

There were also smaller dealers, known by the names of Pykars, resident throughout the country at large who made purchases and prepared the opium in their houses from 10 to 50 maunds, but the commodity thus received from the Pykars was never genuine.

1892, Sir George Watt, A Dictionary of the Economic Products of India:

In Dacca before Plassey only 9 dalals and 11 pykars were permitted in the cloth trade. Any other person calling himself a dalal or a pykar was liable to be punished by Nawab's Daroga of Mulmul Khas Kuthee.

1961, Narendra Krishna Sinha, The Economic History of Bengal:

The Council of Revenue wrote to the CCC in 1772 that the Company's pykars were procuring cocoons through debt-bondage and coercion and that 'the riots and chassars are reduced to a state of actual slavery."

1995, Studies in History, volume 11, page 197:

A broker dealing directly with a manufacturer of goods.


howker

(nautical) A type of two-masted Dutch sailing vessel, weighing between 60 and 200 tons burthen.

(nautical, slang) Obsolete form of hooker (“any antiquated craft”).


dennet

(dated) A light, open, two-wheeled carriage for one horse; a kind of gig.


manumotor

From Latin manus (“hand”) + mōtō (“I move, set in motion”).

(historical) A small wheeled carriage that could be moved by its occupant


storeship

(nautical, military) A vessel used to carry naval stores.

снабдителен кораб

a vessel used to carry naval stores for a fleet, garrison, etc.


maxiscooter

A large motorcycle with a step-through frame.


mobility scooter

en-noun

mobility scooter (plural mobility scooters)

An electric-powered scooter, similar in use to a wheelchair, that is specially designed for disabled and/or elderly people.

scooter para personas con movilidad reducida


motor scooter

A small motorcycle or moped with a step-through frame.


monoxylon

From New Latin monoxylon, from Ancient Greek μονόξυλος (monóxulos, “made from a solid trunk”). See mono- and xylo-.

der

A canoe or boat made from a hollowed out tree.


chariotee

(historical) A light, covered, four-wheeled carriage with two seats.


gestatorial chair

en-noun

gestatorial chair (plural gestatorial chairs)

A calque of Latin and Italian sedia gestatoria (“carrying chair”).

bor

(historical) A sedan chair used as a portable throne by popes.


carcoon

en-verb

carcoon (third-person singular simple present carcoons, present participle carcooning, simple past and past participle carcooned)

carcoons (present singular third-person)
carcooning (participle present)
carcooned (participle past)
carcooned (past)

To treat a car as an extension of one's home and work environment, attempting to maximize comfort and productivity by using it to do things commonly done off the road, such as eating, making phone calls, and consuming entertainment.


rockaway

Probably from Rockaway Beach, where they were used. From the Unami lekawe (“sandy place”) or a Munsee cognate of that word.

(dated, uncommon) A light, low, four-wheeled carriage with standing top, open at the sides, but with waterproof curtains for bad weather.

(dated, uncommon) A similar but heavier carriage, enclosed except at the front, and with a door at each side.


hatchboat

(nautical, UK, historical) A type of fishing boat found mostly in southern England in the 19th century, whose deck consisted of many movable hatches.


barcon

From Italian barcone, from barca (“a bark”).

A freight vessel used in the Mediterranean.


chelandion

From Ancient Greek χελάνδιον (khelándion).

(historical, nautical) a Byzantine bireme used primarily for cargo transport


dromon

(historical, nautical) A Byzantine bireme, similar to the chelandion, but used primarily for naval combat.


tongkang

(nautical, historical) A kind of light wooden boat used in the early 19th century to carry goods along rivers in Maritime Southeast Asia.


triaconter

From Ancient Greek τριακοντήρης (triakontḗrēs).

der

τριακοντήρης

(Ancient Greece) A vessel with thirty banks of oars, or thirty ranks of rowers.


mahone

In this Charge one of the Turks Mahones was sunk , and two disabled

1680, Paul Rycaut, The History of the Turkish Empire […] :

(historical) A large Turkish warship. [from 16th c.]


patela

A large flat-bottomed trading boat peculiar to the river Ganges in India.


billyboy

Most of these billyboys were small craft, seldom carrying more than 100 tons; but there were larger craft schooner rigged.

1951, Basil Greenhill, The Merchant Schooners, volume 2, page 94:

(UK, historical) A flat-bottomed river barge or coasting vessel, used for trade along the east coast.of England in the 19th century.


patamar

In may 1831, I proceeded from Bombay to Panoovellee in a small Patamar, I sailed in the afternoon and arrived there before day break, I paid for the whole Patamar five Rupees, but a boat usually sails every day from Bombay to Panoovellee at the cost of a quarter of a Rupee for each person, […]

1832, David D'Beth Hillel, The Travels of Rabbi David D'Beth Hillel: From Jerusalem, Through Arabia, Koordistan, Part of Persia, and India to Madras, page 138:

(nautical) A sailing vessel resembling a grab, formerly used in the coasting trade of Bombay and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).


whitetop

en-noun

whitetop (countable and uncountable, plural whitetops)

Whitetop is an invasive species in North America.

Lepidium draba
Lepidium draba#Translingual

Lepidium draba (hoary cress, hoary peppercress, perennial peppergrass, tall whitetop), a perennial herb of family Brassicaceae that reproduces by seeds and by horizontal creeping roots.

Rhynchospora colorata (starrush whitetop, white star sedge, white-topped sedge), a plant from the family Cyperaceae.


bilander

Borrowed from Dutch bijlander, equivalent to by- + lander. See also belandre.

Why choose we, then, like bilanders to creep / Along the coast, and land in view to keep?

1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:

it being fine weather , all the bilanders and fiſhing boats , that had returned after the first imbarkation, into the harbour, went out again with another body of troops

March 1744, Scots Magazine, and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany:

(historical) A small two-masted merchant vessel, used near the coast or in canals, mostly in the Netherlands.


chopboat

From chop (“stamp, mark of quality, license”) + boat.

compound

In taking in cargo, the receiving officer should not be interrupted, for he has need of all his carefulness to see that the coolies in the chopboat do not slily pass up a chest with two tallies stuck in it, or slip a package off sideways from the board

1856, Samuel Wells Williams, A Chinese Commercial Guide:

(in China) A licensed lighter (watercraft) employed in the transportation of goods to and from larger vessels.


shandrydan

The odd-man gardener has brought the Rectory shandrydan round to the front door — it was a long elongated open vehicle drawn by a mild old mare named Lucy.

1938, Siegfried Sassoon, The Old Century and seven more years, London: Faber, page 134 (1968 edition):

(dated, humorous) A hooded chaise; any similar horse-drawn vehicle with no definite name.

(dated, Ireland, humorous, derogatory) A vehicle; a carriage or cart.


feller-buncher

(forestry) A motorized vehicle, used in logging, that can rapidly cut, gather and fell trees.


razee

From French vaisseau rasé, from raser (“to rase, to cut down ships”). See raze and rase (verbs).

an old line-of-battle ship, (21 years of age,) cut down to a razee

1838, Edmund Fanning, Voyages to the South Seas […] :

(nautical) An armed ship with its upper deck cut away, and thus reduced to the next inferior rate, such as a seventy-four cut down to a frigate.


flyboat

Borrowed from Dutch vlieboot, but re-analysed as fly + boat.

August 14, 1595, Thomas Treffry, letter to Sir Robert Cecil
a ship of Bristol was chased into this harbour by two Spanish fly-boats, and they report […] that there are five men of war, Spanish, in the road of Conquet

A large flat-bottomed Dutch coasting vessel.


scampavia

(historical) A long, low war galley used by the Neapolitans and Sicilians in the early part of the 19th century.


double-ripper

(US, dialect, archaic) A kind of sledge made of two sleds fastened together with a board, one in front of the other.


apehanger

(slang, chiefly in the plural) A handlebar on a motorcycle positioned higher than the rider's shoulders.


panchway

From Bengali পানসি (panośi, “pinnace”), from English pinnace.

[A] Bengal boat called a paunceway came alongside, which Colonel Watson engaged to convey him to Calcutta.

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 205

With a gesture of acknowledgement, Parimal retreated down the ladder and soon afterwards, a slim paunchway pulled away from the Raskhali budgerow to nudge up alongside the Ibis.

2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 42:

(India, now historical) A Bengalese four-oared passenger boat.


pogie

(cycling, motorcycling) A protective hand covering, sometimes insulated, attached to handlebars to protect hands from wind and precipitation.


zabra

A small sailing vessel used off the coasts of Spain and Portugal.


pilentum

(Ancient Rome) An easy chariot or carriage, used by Roman ladies, and in which the vessels etc. for sacred rites were carried.


whaleship

For many years past the whaleship has been the pioneer in ferreting out the remotest and least known parts of the earth. She has explored seas and archipelagoes which had no chart, where no Cook or Vancouver had ever sailed.


pump trolley

The train, minus the three abandoned trucks, again proceeded at a slow pace, with a pump trolley doing pilot ahead ; this was very necessary as a great many sleepers were found to have been burnt underneath the fishplates.

1901, George Gipps, The Fighting in North China (up to the Fall of Tientsin City), Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, →OL, page 40:

A gang was sent out on a pump trolley and the inspection car followed.

1910 March 4, “Supply Trade Section: Fairbanks-Morse Inspection Car”, in Railway Age Gazette, volume 48, number 9, page 509:

Immediately after the train had pulled away from St. Peters, Alfred Morrison, section foreman along with his helper, Frank Lindloft, took off with the pump trolley.

1976, J. William Calder, All Aboard, Formac Publishing Company, →ISBN, →OL, page 118:

A light railroad car propelled by a hand-operated pumping mechanism; a handcar.


crayer

Ultimately probably from Dutch/Middle Dutch. Related to Danish krejert, kraier.

(nautical) A two- or three-masted sailing vessel formerly used for transporting cargo in the Baltic Sea.


chebacco

From Chebacco, the former name of Essex, a town in Massachusetts where such vessels were built, and the still current name of bodies of water in its environment. The town's name derives from Agawam, an Eastern Algonquian language.

On an evening soon after the first of the year, we went on board a felucca boat (much less than a chebacco) for Leghorn.

1830, Silas Pinckney Holbrook, Sketches, by a Traveller:

(nautical) A (relatively small) narrow-sterned boat formerly much used in the Newfoundland fisheries.


tim-whiskey

en-noun

tim-whiskey (plural tim-whiskeys or tim-whiskies)

tim-whiskeys (plural)
tim-whiskies (plural)

1778, George Colman, Prologue to The Suicide, in Prose on Several Occasions: Accompanied with Some Pieces in Verse, London: T. Cadel, 1787, Volume 3, p. 225,
With Two Act Pieces what machines agree?
Buggies, Tim-whiskies, or squeez’d Vis a-vis,
Where two sit face to face, and knee to knee.

It was a two-wheeled vehicle, which claimed none of the modern appellations of tilbury, tandem, dennet, or the like; but aspired only to the humble name of that almost forgotten accommodation, a whiskey; or, according to some authorities, a tim-whiskey.

1824, Walter Scott, chapter 1, in Saint Ronan's Well, volume 2, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable, page 6:

1837, Robert Southey, The Doctor, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman, Volume 4, Interchapter 14, p. 43,
It is not like the difference between a Baptist and an Anabaptist, which Sir John Danvers said, is much the same as that between a Whiskey and a Tim-Whiskey, that is to say no difference at all.

(historical) Synonym of whiskey, a kind of light carriage drawn by one horse.


jump starter

An instrument carried around to replenish a depleted car battery.


freightwagon

From freight + wagon. Compare West Frisian frachtwein (“truck, lorry”), Dutch vrachtwagen (“truck, lorry”), German Frachtwagen, Swedish fraktvagn (“cargo truck”).

cog

“Come on, we'd better find out what this ruckus is about,” Jessie said, and they joined the crowd converging on the sheriff's office. In front of the office door was parked a freightwagon, belonging, according to the scrollwork on its high sides, [...]

1985, Wesley Ellis, Lone Star and the Moon Trail Feud:

The freightwagon had already arrived when Lorelei, Angelina and Raul got to the ranch, and it was stuck up to its axels in mud. Raul drew the buckboard up alongside and leaped down. “I put the load inside that old house there!

2006, Linda Lael Miller, McKettrick's Choice:

Saxton rode to where Marcus lay unconscious on a canvas litter stretched across the breadth of a lumbering freightwagon.

2009, S a Carter, The Dark Side of the Mountain:

Old Man Drake brought Charlie's new saddle out on the freightwagon, along with the next load of feed and supplies.

Any vehicle, such as a cart, wagon, lorry, truck, or boxcar, used for carrying or transporting goods; a cargo truck.


tonneau cover

A hard, locking tonneau cover, which fits over the bed, is an option.

2000 May 7, Dan Lienert, “Behind the Wheel: Ford Explorer Sport Trac”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-07-12:

(automotive) A protective covering which may be secured over the exposed portion of a motor vehicle, such as the seating area of an open sports car or the back of a pickup truck.


trail bike

Mr Smith mounts his Yamaha 400cc trail bike for the three-minute journey to his boat.

1999 August 7, Robert Fisk, “Week in the Life: Patrick Smith, Beirut grocer”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 2012-07-14:

The road I traveled is all but impassable to motorized vehicles, excepting a trail bike driven by someone who knows how to negotiate mammoth mudholes.

2001 August 12, “A Black Mud From Africa Helps Power the New Economy”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-07-14:

To get in shape for bicycle races, he pedals his trail bike up 2600-ft. Mount Tamalpais, near his home.

2005 April 18, “Sweat Stocks: Are brokers better on bikes?”, in Time:

A bicycle or motorcycle which is designed and used for off-road travel on rugged or inclined surfaces.


berlin

From the name of the German capital city Berlin, where it was invented in the 17th century.

I was then giving some instructions about the forwarding my trunk, and was just going to mount my new purchase in the yard of the inn; when a berlin, apparently belonging to a foreigner of distinction, attended by three French or Swiss servants, drove to the door […].

1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 261:

I passed her in his berlin the other day, and just caught a glimpse of very pretty features, with an interesting and sad expression. I believe that she is his wife, because I always believe for the best.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Lady Marchmont to Sir Jasper Meredith. Courtiers.”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 263:

A four-wheeled carriage with a separate sheltered seat behind the body.


governess-cart

[…] Muriel and Benjamin yoked themselves into an old governess-cart and did their share.

1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:

(historical) A light two-wheeled carriage with springs; a trap.


iqyax

Each pain was a wave, and she tried to float above it, as though she were back in that small iqyax with Sok, riding the North Sea when she came as his bride to the River People.

2000, Sue Harrison, Cry of the Wind, page 51:

An especially genuine example is in the hands of a young Aleut man named Chris Lokanin, who aims to carry on his ancestral iqyax-building […]


Hyundai

The Hyundai Motor Group takes its name from the conglomerate with which it was historically affiliated, the Hyundai Group. Borrowed from Korean 현대(現代) (hyeondae, “modern times”). Compare modern Chinese 現代／现代 (xiàndài), Japanese 現代(げんだい) (gendai).

zh-l

現代／现代 (xiàndài)

She could just imagine him wilting as Janice made insinuations about his boy-executive clothes, his Hyundai, the section of town he lived in, the school he had gone to.

1991, Writing Center of New Mexico State University, Puerto Del Sol, volume 26, page 201:

He had been such an ineffectual thief that the store-owner had seized the weapon from King and sent him running for his Hyundai as the store-owner took down the license plate number.

2007, Jeff Chang, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, page 338:

The vocals and the music are as earnest as the lyrics are hilarious, with the narrator asking Jenny to step inside his Hyundai after comparing her to ripe fruit and impressing her with a fresh pack of gum.

2010, Anthony Bozza, Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem, page 195:

The stove was the size of his Hyundai back home.

2011, Bruce Dundore, The Seduction Diet, page 73:

A car manufactured by the Hyundai Motor Group.

Hyundai
Hyundai Group
Hyundai Motor Group


lenj

[…] in between a lenj fishing boat and a row of dhows. He cut the engine and glided the motor launch in. A dockhand was sat at the quayside edge, feet dangling over the water.

2015 September 17, I. D. Roberts, For Kingdom and Country, Allison & Busby, →ISBN:

A type of traditional fishing boat, typically hand-built, used in the Persian Gulf.


old banger

Mark: What? This old banger?
Sophie: Right, yeah. But it's not an old banger, is it Mark? It's a brand new Beamer.


goods wagon

(UK) A railway wagon for carrying freight.


freight car

Coordinate term: passenger car

(US) A railway wagon for carrying goods.


kago

There are two sorts of palanquin, the norimon and the cango. The former, which requires four bearers for long journeys, is a large, heavy box, in which one may sit with tolerable comfort. The sides are in lacquered wood, and contain two sliding doors. Although this norimon is, par excellence, the vehicle of the nobility, it admits of no ornaments, and is used by the ladies of the middle class and by the registered courtesans, because both occupy a certain position of fortune and consideration in society. The cango is a light litter of bamboo, open on both sides; it requires only two bearers, who always walk with a rapid and regular step. They rest for one minute out of twenty. When they go back, each carries in his turn the cango, suspended at the end of a pole, over his shoulder.

1874, Aimé Humbert, translated by Frances Cashel Hoey et al., Japan and the Japanese Illustrated, page 156:

There are no roads outside the villages in northern Yezo, no jinriksha,—those most fascinating man-power carriages,—no kago, or swinging cars, and no side-saddles...

1898 July, Mabel Loomis Todd, "In Aino-land", The Century Illustrated Montly Magazine, Vol. LVI, No. 3, p. 346

(chiefly historical) An open and suspended Japanese style of sedan chair.


swordfishing boat

en-noun

swordfishing boat (plural swordfishing boats)


car transporter

car transporter (plural car transporters)

The normal methods of road delivery are by driving the cars individually, or by car transporters which convey as many as eight vehicles on massive articulated double-deck trailers.

1960 June, “British cars go by rail: I-The L.M.R wins new Anglo-Scottish traffic”, in Trains Illustrated, page 335:


songthaew

From Thai สองแถว (sɔ̌ɔng-tɛ̌o), from สอง (sɔ̌ɔng, “two”) + แถว (tɛ̌o, “row”).

(Thailand) A pickup truck converted into a shared taxi by the addition of a bench or row of seats along each side of the bed.

Songtaeo

truck used as a shared taxi — see also shared taxi, pickup truck


bajaj

From Indonesian bajaj, ultimately from the name of the manufacturer, Bajaj Auto.


cycle rickshaw

A rickshaw, mostly used as taxi, with two wheels in the back for the carriage and one wheel for steering in the front (or sometimes vice versa), propelled by the action of a driver’s feet upon pedals.


mistic

From Spanish místico. Compare Catalan místic, French mistique, Italian mistico, and Ottoman Turkish مستقو (mistiko). These all refer to sailing ships of the Mediterranean, but not necessarily to the same kind of ship. The number of masts is variously two or three and the sails are lateen or square. The New English Dictionary traces the origin to an Arabic word misṭeḥ "flat surface" (compare مُسَطَّح (musaṭṭaḥ)) but Kahane et al. disagree.

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

A kind of small sailing vessel historically used in the Mediterranean, rigged partly like a xebec and partly like a felucca.


tankie

From tank + -ie.
Senses 1 and 2 were named for the tanks used by the Soviet Union against uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

Central Intelligence Agency
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

[W]e also desired to shock the staid older party members and the tankies. The tankies and softliners differed as to what sort of magazine Challenge should be.

1985, Terry Bushell, “Softliners and Tankies”, in Marriage of Inconvenience: An Anglo-Soviet Alliance, London: André Deutsch, →ISBN, page 10:

Stephen Well, read the Morning Star and keep up with the tankies. / Max The tankies … How the years roll by. Dubcek is back. Russia agrees to withdraw its garrisons. Czechoslovakia takes her knickers off to welcome capitalism. And all that remains of August '68 is a derisive nickname for the only real Communists left in the Communist Party. I'm exactly as old as the October Revolution …

2006, Tom Stoppard, Rock 'n' Roll, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN:

[T]he tankies, those members of the British Communist Party who unquestioningly followed Moscow's line, up to and beyond supporting Soviet tanks rumbling through the streets of Budapest and Prague, […]

2007, Tribune, volume 71, London: Tribune Publications, →OCLC:

(UK, politics, slang, historical) A member of the Communist Party of Great Britain who supported the Soviet Union's policy of crushing revolts in Hungary in the 1950s and Czechoslovakia in the 1960s by sending tanks into those countries.

tanky

tank soldier, member of the Communist Party of Great Britain

As far as the Sparklies were concerned the new comics were scruffy herberts who shouted ‘Fuck Thatcher’ over and over, while raving Tankie Stalinists hooted indiscriminately in the front row.

2009, Arthur Smith, “Rooms above Pubs”, in My Name is Daphne Fairfax: A Memoir, London: Hutchinson, ISBN 978-0-09-192103-3; republished London: Arrow Books, Random House, 2010, ISBN 978-0-09-951965-2, pages 181–182

Though in an age in which anyone can publish texts, images, and videos to potentially huge audiences and in which impassioned leftists of “woke,” “tankie,” and “democratic-socialist” (post-Corbynista or Bernie Bro) persuasions post constant calls to action, informational posts, and manifestos, the failure of the left to ignite needs further analysis.

2021, Mike Watson, The Memeing of Mark Fisher, John Hunt Publishing:

(politics, slang, derogatory, by extension) A supporter of policies and actions by the Soviet Union, China, Cuba or other Marxist-Leninist governments.

tankisto

The "tankies", as they were known, shunted empty carriages from Copley Hill sidings onto the buffers at Leeds […]

1987, The Railway Magazine, volume 133, London: IPC Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 382:


sounding rocket

sounding rocket (plural sounding rockets)

(space science) A suborbital rocket used to launch upper atmosphere, exoatmospheric, and microgravity sondes or probes.


starliner

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-starliner.wav

(science fiction) A large starship capable of transporting many passengers.


boyer

From Dutch boeijer, so called because these vessels were employed for laying the boeijen, or buoys: compare French boyer.

they have many advantages of us; the one is, by their fashioned ships called boyers, hoybarks, hoys, and others[…]

1651, Walter Raleigh, Observations touching trade and commerce with the Hollander and other nations:

A Flemish sloop with a castle at each end.


engine block

The metal casting that contains the piston cylinders of an engine.


ballahoo

(historical) A fast-sailing class of schooner made for the Royal Navy, used in the Bermudas and the Caribbean.


quarter glass

(vehicles) The small triangular-shaped side window on some vehicles, originally used as a vent.


sideblade

A panel immediately behind the rear door of a car, often contrasting in colour with the bodywork.


pedelec

From German Pedelec, a shortening of pedal electric.

The need of using the pedelec as a multipurpose vehicle was also discussed: As far as the infrastructure was concerned, the central issues were battery change and battery loading stations as well as a possible leasing model for batteries because they were considered to be the most expensive spare spart of the bike.

2013, Michael Hülsmann, Dirk Fornahl, Evolutionary Paths Towards the Mobility Patterns of the Future, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 126:

In this report cyclists are defined as users of a conventional bicycle or a pedelec/e-bike, i.e., an electric powered bicycle offering pedal assistance up to approximately 25 km/h

2024, Marjolein Boele-Vos & Ingrid van Schagen (SWOV), European Commission (2024). Road safety thematic report – Cyclists. European Road Safety Observatory. Brussels, European Commission, Directorate General for Transport., European Union,:

In this report, cyclists are defined as users of a conventional bicycle or an e-bike, formally called pedelec. A conventional bike is solely human-powered while an e-bike is a bicycle that delivers power when the cyclist pushes the pedals up to a speed of 25 km/h. This report does not deal with users of speed pedelecs. Speed pedelecs offer pedal assistance up to 45 km/h, and are therefore legally categorised as a moped.

At intersections, the crash involvement of pedelecs was twice as high compared to the conventional bicycle; car drivers did not give priority to the pedelec

(informal) A bicycle with an electric motor which assists the rider but only while they are pedalling.


crare

From Old French craier, creer, croyer (“ship of war”), Late Latin craiera, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic (compare German Krieger (“warrior”), or Dutch krijger).

Who ever yet could sound thy bottom? find / The ooze, to show what coast thy sluggish crare / Might easiliest harbour in?

1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:


Mitsubishi

Lanphier gazed upward. A few thousand feet above them and about five miles off were faint outlines against a sky of blue. The faint outlines were interpreted to be six Zeros and two other Mitsubishis.

2003, A. Robert Hill, Stars of the Southern Cross, →ISBN, page 123:

If a plane was heard overhead, every man would kneel. An entire unit would vanish, as if it had never been. An enemy oculd be a meter from such a man and still not see him. So what chance did the Mitsubishis stand?

2013, Stuart Slade, The High Frontier, →ISBN, page 77:

At 10:05 am, having circled around, eight of the Mitsubishis were again approaching,this time from the port bow. They were trying to line the cruiser up to provide the maximum target for bombers, which was the opposite of the maximum target for torpedo aircraft.

2015, Jeffrey Cox, Rising Sun, Falling Skies: The disastrous Java Sea, →ISBN:

A plane manufactured by this company, especially during the Second World War.


Holden

A brand of car (automobile) originating in Australia.


birlinn

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic bìrlinn, from Old Norse byrðingr.

(Scotland, historical) A type of boat used especially in the Hebrides and West Highlands of Scotland in the Middle Ages.


cigarette-boat

From their use as cigarette smuggling boats between the USA and Canada.

a small, fast boat designed with a long narrow platform and a planing hull to enable it to reach high speeds.


gentleman's cruiser

gentleman's cruiser (plural gentleman's cruisers)

(nautical, informal) A style of traditional motor yacht, typically low-set with vertical all-round windows and traditional woodwork.


Lotus

El Dorado County
El Dorado County#English

An unincorporated community in El Dorado County, California. Former names: Marshall and Uniontown.

An unincorporated community and former village on Merritt Island, Brevard County, Florida.

An unincorporated community in Union County, Indiana.

An unincorporated community in Bullitt County, Kentucky.


ice cream van

(Australia, UK) A vehicle from which ice cream is sold at the roadside, mostly to children.


yellow cab

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-yellow cab.wav

Shōko Ieda
Universal Studios
Yellow Cab (novel)
Yellow cab
Yellow cab (stereotype)

Originally selected owing to yellow's high visibility and common in horsedrawn form in Paris and London in the 1800s and New York in the 1880s. Now chiefly associated with the yellow automotive taxicabs popularized around New York by the Yellow Taxicab Co. In reference to sexually available Asian women, a calque of Japanese イエローキャブ (ierō kyabu), from English yellow cab and popularized by Shōko Ieda's 1991 novel by that name, from its female characters' supposed "yellow" skin and the notion they provided "rides" to the general public.

Despite its ubiquity in 1990s Japanese culture, one telephone survey of 200 people conducted in the New York area did not find a single individual familiar with the use of the term "yellow cab" in reference to Japanese or Asian women.

(Japanese, derogatory, ethnic slur) An Asian woman who sleeps with white men, particularly such Japanese women when regarded as a race traitor.


Renault

Borrowed from French Renault, itself derived from Proto-Germanic *Raginawaldaz. Doublet of Reynold.


supply vessel

A ship used to transport supplies to offshore installations such as oil and gas platforms.


serial killer van

serial killer van (plural serial killer vans)

From the idea that such a van might be suited to abducting somebody.


sack barrow

(UK) A two-wheeled vehicle used for moving sacks and other heavy items.


wrecking car

A railway car fitted with apparatus and implements for removing the wreck resulting from an accident.


revenue cutter

(historical, US) An armed government vessel employed to enforce revenue laws, especially charging tariffs on imports and preventing smuggling, etc.


beach wagon

How many young ladies are there?" asked her mother, beginning to look sober.
"Twelve or fourteen in the class, but I dare say they won't all come."
"Bless me, child, you will have to charter an omnibus to carry them about."
"Why, mother, how can you think of such a thing; not more than six or eight will probably come, so I shall hire a beach-wagon and borrow Mr. Laurence's cherry-bounce." (Hannah's pronunciation of char-a-banc.)

1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 26, in Little Women: […], part second, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC:

The Scottsburg road from Drain's was the one usually taken. At the former place the stage was abandoned for a small steamer to Gardiner, or to the mouth of the river (I took the mail-carrier's small boat from Gardiner to the coast), whence a beach-wagon conveyed passengers twenty miles to the north side of Coos Bay, where they were met by a steamer and taken across to Empire City. The beach ride is wearisome, with the perpetual roll of the broad-tire wheels over the unelastic wet sand, and the constant view of a restless waste of water on one hand, with dry, drifting sand between us and the mountains on the other, varied only with patches of marsh and groups of scraggy pines at intervals.

1891, Frances Fuller Victor, Atlantis Arisen, Chapter 10:

(historical) A light open wagon with two or more seats, designed to transport people on sand.


jam jar

/ˈdʒam ˌdʒɑː/

Empty jam jars are handy for keeping odd bits and pieces in.

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang


electric vehicle

electric vehicle (plural electric vehicles)

By the middle of the decade, he [Clive Sinclair] had sold his computer businesses and moved on to transportation with the Sinclair C5 electric vehicle, which was designed with a single seat but, bafflingly for as wet and chilly a country as Britain, without a roof.

2012 March 4, Alice Rawsthorn, “Farewell, Pocket Calculator?”, in The New York Times:

His car company, Tesla, controls two-thirds of the multibillion-dollar electric-vehicle market it pioneered and is valued at a cool $1 trillion.

December 13 2021, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time:

A vehicle that uses an electric motor as the means of propulsion; most especially, an e-car or e-truck.

BEV

battery electric vehicle; an EV that is fully electric as opposed to hybrid electric

HEV

hybrid electric vehicle; an EV that has both an electric powertrain and an ICE for charging and/or propulsion

e-skateboard

usually used coordinately rather than hyponymously, when the governing mental schema implicitly restricts EVs to the larger, heavier vehicles


tode

Possibly related to Low German todden (“to drag”).


tode

(obsolete) Clipping of tode-boat: a small fishing boat used in the Netherlands.


Daimler

en-proper noun

Daimler (countable and uncountable, plural Daimlers)

en:Chrysler
en:Daimler
en:Daimler AG
en:Daimler Company

Ellipsis of Daimler-Chrysler.; An American automobile maker.


East Indiaman

1833, A History of Shipwrecks, and Disasters at Sea, from the Most Authentic Sources, Volume 2, Constable's Miscellany of Original and Selected Publications, Volume 79, page 183,
Thb shipwreck of the Grovesnor East Indiaman, in 1782, on her homeward-bound voyage from Ceylon, was attended with circumstances of more than common interest.

Even Dutch East Indiamen are not all the same size, but for the benefit of such of my readers as are curious after knowledge, and have never had an opportunity of seeing for themselves big, ocean-going vessels, I will try to describe the general type to which most Indiamen belong.

1919, O. F. Mentzel, Life at the Cape in Mid-eighteenth Century, page 163:

As the smaller chambers would then not have the opportunity to hire a junior merchant—because they built and equipped only East Indiamen of the second charter—the rule was adjusted in 1772.

2009, Femme S. Gaastra, “Chapter 4: Soldiers and Merchants: Aspects of Migration from Europe to Asia in the Dutch East India Company in the Eighteenth Century”, in Wim Klooster, editor, Migration, Trade, and Slavery in an Expanding World, page 111:

(historical) Any ship operating under charter or licence to one of the East India Companies, which were each granted monopoly trading rights with the East Indies by one of several of the major trading powers of the 17th—19th centuries.

kinafarer

ship sailing for a European East India company


starfighter

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-starfighter.wav

(science fiction) A fictional type of spacecraft that is intended to be used like a fighter plane in outer space.


lozenge coach

August 21 1746, Horace Walpole, letter to Sir Horace Mann
I am retired hither like an old summer dowager ; only that I have no toad - eater to take the air with me in the back part of my lozenge - coach

(historical) The coach of a dowager, having her coat of arms painted on a lozenge.