jalopy
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unknown. Perhaps from Jalapa, Mexico (now Xalapa), to whose tweak yards used cars were often sent from New Orleans starting in the 1920s. First recorded written use in 1924.[1][2]
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]jalopy (plural jalopies)
- (US, dated) An old, dilapidated or unpretentious automobile.
- Synonyms: banger, beater; see also Thesaurus:old car
- 1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 1, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC:
- Dean is the perfect guy for the road because he was actually born on the road, when his parents were passing through Salt Lake City in 1926, in a jalopy, on their way to Los Angeles.
- 2003, Terrance Dicks, Barry Letts, chapter 22, in Deadly Reunion:
- There's only a rough track and I doubt if that jalopy of yours will make it.
- 2009 November 20, Stephen King, “Raymond Carver’s Life and Stories”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
- Through most of those early years of restless travel, he dragged his two children and his long-suffering wife, Maryann […] behind him like tin cans tied to the bumper of a jalopy that no car dealer in his right mind would take in trade.
- (US, dated, slang) A hip, cool, groovy automobile.
Related terms
[edit]- jalapeño (possibly)
Translations
[edit]old, dilapidated car
|
References
[edit]- ^ Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Jalopy”, in World Wide Words.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “jalopy”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Further reading
[edit]- “jalopy”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “jalopy”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “jalopy”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “jalopy”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.