flivver
nounUS /ˈflɪv.ɚ/ · UK /ˈflɪv.ə(ɹ)/
Etymology Unknown, early 20th c.. A book titled "At the Front in a Flivver" was published in 1917. Cartoonist Tad Dorgan in 1919 claimed to have created the term in his comic strip Judge Rummy.
1
Canada, US, Colloquial, Dated An automobile or cart, particularly one which is old and inexpensive.
- Billy being too poor to own a car, had hired a cheap flivver for the day, and was purposely ten minutes behind the time, but to his disgust found the procession not yet started.1920 July, Lyman Seelye, “Quite a Picnic”, in The Overland Monthly:
- Shortly after daylight a procession of mule-drawn waggons, broken-down flivvers, and buggies begins wheeling in from the countryside ...1948, Truman Capote, Other Voices, Other Rooms, Part One, 1:
1 more example
- These workers were often joined by impoverished small farmers from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri who pooled their resources to buy a flivver and follow the harvest into the Dakotas and Canada.1998, Nigel Anthony Sellars, Oil, Wheat & Wobblies: The Industrial Workers of the World in Oklahoma, 1905-1930, University of Oklahoma Press, →ISBN, →OL, page 180:
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Canada, US, Colloquial, Dated A Ford Model T.
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Government, Military, Nautical, Politics, Transport, War US, Derogatory, Historical, Slang A destroyer of the United States Navy with a displacement of less than 1,000 tons.