jalopy
noun/d͡ʒəˈlɒ.pi/
Etymology Unknown. Perhaps from Jalapa, Mexico (now Xalapa), to whose scrapyards used cars were often sent from New Orleans starting in the 1920s. First recorded written use in 1924.
- Dean is the perfect guy for the road because he was actually born on the road, when his parents were passing through Salt Lake City in 1926, in a jalopy, on their way to Los Angeles.1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, chapter 1, in On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC:
- "We ran into some real excitement," Frank said, and told his father the whole story of Chet's missing jalopy, the wrecked car which they suspected had been a stolen one also, and the attempted holdup at the ferryboat office.1959 [1927 June 1], Franklin W. Dixon, The Hardy Boys 01: The Tower Treasure, page 20:
2 more examples
- There's only a rough track and I doubt if that jalopy of yours will make it.2003, Terrance Dicks, Barry Letts, chapter 22, in Deadly Reunion:
- Through most of those early years of restless travel, he dragged his two children and his long-suffering wife, Maryann[…] behind him like tin cans tied to the bumper of a jalopy that no car dealer in his right mind would take in trade.2009 November 20, Stephen King, “Raymond Carver’s Life and Stories”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- Related terms
- jalapeño