flivver
Americannoun
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Older Slang. an automobile, especially one that is small, inexpensive, and old.
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Slang. something of unsatisfactory quality or inferior grade.
noun
Etymology
Origin of flivver
An Americanism dating back to 1905–10; origin uncertain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The first car to make the crossing was in 1902, a brand-new vehicle called an Autocar, driven by the then-legendary master of the fancy flivver, Ralph Hamlin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
A sweating cop whistled the flivver to a stop, and out popped Wayne Morse.
From Time Magazine Archive
In Professor the professor put flubber in a flivver and flew.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was an open-cockpit monoplane that McDonnell hoped to peddle as "the aerial flivver of the future."
From Time Magazine Archive
In Carlyle's day it was a "gig-man"; in ours is it the owner of a "flivver"?
From Unicorns by James Huneker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
