Rolls-Royce

/ ˌrəʊlzˈrɔɪs /

noun

1. Also called (informal): Rolls. a make of very high-quality, luxurious, and prestigious British car. The Rolls-Royce company is no longer British-owned

2. anything considered to be the very best of its kind

Word History and Origins

Origin of Rolls-Royce¹

named after its designers, Charles Stewart Rolls (1877–1910), English pioneer motorist and aviator, and Sir (Frederick) Henry Royce (1863–1933), English engineer, who founded the Rolls-Royce Company (1906)

Example Sentences

When Netflix dropped its 2023 docuseries “Beckham,” Victoria Beckham stole the show with her British humor and viral Rolls-Royce moment.

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In February, Ortberg traveled to Rolls-Royce’s factory in Derby, England, a roughly three-hour drive from London, where he met with the company’s CEO, Tufan Erginbilgic.

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Rolls-Royce, which began testing a prototype of its newest engine in 2023, doesn’t yet have a customer for the technology.

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The new engine could offer a 10% jump in fuel efficiency compared with engines on Airbus’s A320neo and up to 20% when combined with other upgrades to a new airframe, the Rolls-Royce CEO said at the investor presentation.

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Any deal with Rolls-Royce would mark a major change for Boeing, which for about 40 years has used engines from CFM International—a joint venture between GE Aerospace and Safran—to power its 737 narrow-body planes.

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