• Car

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /kɑː/
    • US IPA: /kɑɹ/
    • Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)

    Origin 1

    From Middle English carre, from Anglo-Norman carre (from Old Northern French, compare Old French char), from Latin carra, neuter plural of carrus ("four-wheeled baggage wagon"), from Gaulish *karros, from Proto-Celtic *karros ("wagon"), from Proto-Indo-European *kr̥sos, zero-grade form of Proto-Indo-European *kers- ("to run").

    Full definition of car

    Noun

    car

    (plural cars)
    1. (dated) A wheeled vehicle, drawn by a horse or other animal.
    2. A wheeled vehicle that moves independently, with at least three wheels, powered mechanically, steered by a driver and mostly for personal transportation; a motorcar or automobile.She drove her car to the mall.
      • 2006, w, Internal Combustion Chapter 1, If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the ever more expensive and then universally known killing hazards of gasoline cars .
    3. (rail transport, chiefly North America) An unpowered unit in a railroad train.The conductor linked the cars to the locomotive.
    4. (rail transport) an individual vehicle, powered or unpowered, in a multiple unit.The 11:10 to London was operated by a 4-car diesel multiple unit
    5. (passenger-carrying unit in a subway or elevated train, whether powered or not)(rail transport) A passenger-carrying unit in a subway or elevated train, whether powered or not.From the front-most car of the subway, he filmed the progress through the tunnel.
    6. A rough unit of quantity approximating the amount which would fill a railroad car.We ordered five hundred cars of gypsum.
    7. The moving, load-carrying component of an elevator or other cable-drawn transport mechanism.Fix the car of the express elevator - the door is sticking.
    8. The passenger-carrying portion of certain amusement park rides, such as Ferris wheels.The most exciting part of riding a Ferris wheel is when your car goes over the top.
    9. The part of an airship, such as a balloon or dirigible, which houses the passengers and control apparatus.
      • Everything being apparently in readiness now, I stepped into the car of the balloon, ...
    10. (sailing) A sliding fitting that runs along a track.
      • On boats 25 feet or more, it is best to mount a mast car and track on the front of the mast so you can adjust the height of the pole above the deck
    11. (uncountable, US) The aggregate of desirable characteristics of a car.Buy now! You can get more car for your money.
    12. (US) A floating perforated box for living fish.Image:TOYOTA FCHV 01.jpg|A hydrogen-powered car.Image:Train wagons 0834.jpg|Freight cars.Image:RandenTrain.jpg|A self-propelled passenger car.Image:Ferris wheel - melbourne show 2005.jpg|Ferris wheel cars.Image:Traveller (sailing).jpg|Car on a sailboat.Image:ZeppelinLZ127b.jpg|Car of a Zeppelin.Image:240 Sparks Elevators.jpg|Elevator cars.

    Synonyms

    Origin 2

    Acronym of contents of the address part of register number. Note that it was based on original hardware and has no meaning today.

    Noun

    Image:Cons-cells.svg|thumb|Diagram for the list (42 69 613). The car of the first cons is 42, and the

    car

    (plural cars)
    1. (computing) The first part of a cons in LISP. The first element of a list
      • Matt Kaufmann, Panagiotis Manolios, and J Strother Moore, Computer-aided reasoning: an approach, 2000 :The elements of a list are the successive cars along the "cdr chain." That is, the elements are the car, the car of the cdr, the car of the cdr of the cdr, etc.

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