bumper car

American  

noun

bumper cars plural

1. (in an amusement park) a small, carlike electric vehicle with an encircling rubber bumper that one maneuvers around an enclosed arena while purposely bumping other vehicles.

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bumper car British  

noun

1. Also called: Dodgem.  a low-powered electrically propelled vehicle driven and bumped against similar cars in a special rink at a funfair

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bumper cars
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bumper car

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

Vences also plays soccer, so those skills certainly can help in the video game when trying to hit a soccer ball into the net with a bumper car.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 24, 2025

You remember that vacation experience — salt-air beachside walks and kite-flying, fresh-made fudge, mom ‘n’ pop shops, bumper car slams and slow sunsets caught from the sand.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 13, 2022

In an interview in early July, Mr. Tolia had the somewhat rattled demeanor of a man who had been on a bumper car ride for three days.

From New York Times • Aug. 5, 2021

"I feel like a bumper car," she told Vanity Fair in 2010.

From Salon • May 29, 2021

Frank leaned forward on the steering wheel of his bumper car.

From "Trouble at the Arcade (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #1)" by Franklin W. Dixon