piston slap

British

noun

the characteristic sound of a seriously worn piston in a cylinder (usually of the engine of a motor car)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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The airport, baggage, the ancient taxi with the piston slap, and at last the dark, familiar street.

From The Cuckoo Clock by Barth, Ernie

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023