car

¹ American  

[kahr] / kɑr /

noun

1. an automobile.

2. a vehicle running on rails, as a streetcar or railroad car.

3. the part of an elevator, balloon, modern airship, etc., that carries the passengers, freight, etc.

4. British Dialect. any wheeled vehicle, as a farm cart or wagon.

5. Literary. a chariot, as of war or triumph.

6. Archaic. cart; carriage.

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car ² American  

[kahr] / kɑr /

adjective

Chiefly Scot.

1. left-handed.

2. sinister.

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CAR ³ American  

1. computer-assisted retrieval.

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car. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. carat; carats.

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car ¹ British  

/ kɑː /

noun

1. 1. Also called: motorcar.   automobile.  a self-propelled road vehicle designed to carry passengers, esp one with four wheels that is powered by an internal-combustion engine

   2. ( as modifier )

      car coat

2. a conveyance for passengers, freight, etc, such as a cable car or the carrier of an airship or balloon

3. a railway vehicle for passengers only, such as a sleeping car or buffet car

4. a railway carriage or van

5. the enclosed platform of a lift

6. a poetic word for chariot

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CAR ² British  

abbreviation

1. compound annual return

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Usage

What else does car mean? To most of us on the outside, a car is a vehicle with a motor and four wheels. But in prison slang, your car is your crew, especially when it comes to drugs, protection, and money-making.

Other Word Forms

• carless adjective

Etymology

Origin of car¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English carre, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin carra (feminine singular), from Latin, neuter plural of carrum, variant of carrus “baggage cart, freight wagon,” from Gaulish; akin to Old Irish carr “wheeled vehicle”

Origin of car²

First recorded in 1375–1425; Middle English ( Scots ), from Scots Gaelic ceàrr “false, left, wrong”

Origin of CAR³

First recorded in 1980–85

Example Sentences

“We don’t see evidence of that for our top-income consumers. People in the $150,000 annual income bracket continued to spend quite aggressively, including buying cars,” Long said.

From MarketWatch

China has begun choking off exports of rare earths and rare-earth magnets to Japan, a potential blow to Japanese companies that use them to produce components for global chip makers, car companies and defense firms.

From The Wall Street Journal

And he had been racing and wrecked his car and sent me a picture of it wrapped with the poster of the movie.

From Los Angeles Times

They booked into their hotel, and then Colville picked up the men in her car.

From BBC

For one thing, there’s money in Dahlonega, the smalltown Atlanta suburb where Anna grew up—and where, during the kind of rainstorm that dissolves evidence, a body is found on the hood of a car.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• auto
• automobile
• bus
• convertible
• jeep
• limousine
• machine
• motor
• pickup
• ride
• station wagon
• truck
• van
• wagon