flivver
Americannoun
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Older Slang. an automobile, especially one that is small, inexpensive, and old.
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Slang. something of unsatisfactory quality or inferior grade.
noun
Etymology
Origin of flivver
An Americanism dating back to 1905–10; origin uncertain
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.
Most airmen thought that the future lay in liquid-cooled engines, like the Hispano-Suiza, and in flivver planes.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Existing reciprocal trade laws, although considered revolutionary when first passed during Franklin Roosevelt's Administration, have long been as obsolete as the flivver.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Dwane Wallace refused, doggedly set about finding civilian markets once it became crystal-clear that the day of the flying flivver had not yet quite arrived.
From Time Magazine Archive
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M. Andr� Citroen, who threatens to manufacture an artistic flivver in New Jersey.
From Time Magazine Archive
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As has been related, Thady Shea somewhat vaguely set out upon the way to Magdalena, after disposing of his shoeless flivver and its snoring load.
From The Mesa Trail by Bedford-Jones, H.
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.