puddle-jumper
Americannoun
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a light plane, especially one traveling only short distances or making many stops.
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an old, rickety automobile; flivver.
Etymology
Origin of puddle-jumper
First recorded in 1930–35; humorously so called because it is used on routes that include stopovers in small, insignificant places
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.
So we fly to New York, get off that plane, take another puddle-jumper to Albany to take my son Aaron back to boarding school in Lake Placid, which is another two- or three-hour drive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2025
Theirs is a level of puddle-jumper flights to far-flung outposts, cheap rent-a-cars, fast-food drive-throughs and bunking with roommates.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 15, 2022
By the time his owner makes it to Trash Island in a puddle-jumper prop plane, Spots is nowhere to be found.
From Slate ● Mar. 15, 2018
From there we took a puddle-jumper to Lombok and a skiff to Elizabeth Gilbert Island, which was still called Gili Meno because she hadn’t been there yet.
From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 2013
We were supposed to fly direct from Boston to Heathrow, but a freak snowstorm forced us to take a tiny puddle-jumper to New York first.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2012
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.
