turbo

¹

[tur-boh]

noun

plural

turbos 

1. turbine.

2. Informal.,  turbocharger.

3. an automobile powered by an internal-combustion engine equipped with a turbocharger.

turbo-

²

1. a combining form representing turbine in compound words.

   turbojet.

turbo-

combining form

1. of, relating to, or driven by a turbine

   turbofan

Word History and Origins

Origin of turbo¹

1655–65, in sense “tornado”; 1900–05 turbo for def. 1; in part < Latin turbō top, whirlwind, in part by shortening of turbocharged ( def. ) or turbocharger

Origin of turbo²

turb(ine) + -o-

Example Sentences

With me in the right seat looking like Chewbacca in the asteroid field, Dave utterly thrashed the Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet assigned to us, attacking the granite-toothed switchbacks of the Andalusian hill country like he hated them.

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I might have preferred not to test the Turbo S’s biggest-ever carbon-ceramic brakes while pointed over a cliff at 100 mph.

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To the untrained eye the Turbo S might look like just another 911, one of dozens of variants with inscrutable nomenclature—GT2, Carrera 4S Cabriolet, etc.

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Notwithstanding the 200-mph top speed, the goal for the new Turbo S was cutting consumption and carbon emissions.

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Nobody was going to tinker with the Turbo S’s silhouette, were they?

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Related Words

• airplane 
• plane