winter rat

noun

winter rat

noun

Etymology Believed to have originated in or around Syracuse, New York.

1

US, Colloquial, Idiomatic An old, unattractive automobile, purchased for little money, to be driven during brutal Great Lakes winters while the owner's "good" car remains garaged and protected from corrosive road salt for the season.

Synonyms
beater, clunker, junker, jalopy

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.