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.
Kenny once knew a Texan who had the Senator's trick of saying a few words, then backing up like a flivver in a rut and saying them over again.
From Time Magazine Archive
But as it turned out, the Progressive flivver was spared.
From Time Magazine Archive
A sweating cop whistled the flivver to a stop, and out popped Wayne Morse.
From Time Magazine Archive
Most airmen thought that the future lay in liquid-cooled engines, like the Hispano-Suiza, and in flivver planes.
From Time Magazine Archive
In silence she drove, pushing the flivver with a speed and abandon which left Shea clinging desperately to his seat.
From The Mesa Trail by Bedford-Jones, H.
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.
