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.
The first car to make the crossing was in 1902, a brand-new vehicle called an Autocar, driven by the then-legendary master of the fancy flivver, Ralph Hamlin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
In most auto races, the competing cars have about as much in common with the family flivver as an Apollo spacecraft has with a Piper Cub.
From Time Magazine Archive
Once, as a "reverse Rhodes Scholar at Yale," chubby Geoffrey Crowther toured Georgia with three other collegians in a ramshackle flivver.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
When you receive your first cheque your sensation is something like that of the man who has passed through a cyclone and has come through with his "flivver" still in the barn.
From Making Your Camera Pay by Frederick C. Davis
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
