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motor car, n.

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Pronunciation:  Brit. /ˈməʊtəkɑː/ , U.S. /ˈmoʊdərˌkɑr/
Etymology:  < motor n. + car n.1
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 1. U.S. A railway vehicle having its own means of propulsion. See car n.1 3a.

1878   Times 1 July 4/6   The motor cars, in the centre of which are placed the boiler and engine, weigh about 30,000lb. each, and cost about $5000, or £1000.
1888   New Eng. Mag. Oct. 560   A steam-dummy started from the car-house with a motor car and a large open car to convey them to the road, where electrical connection could be had... The dummy was dismissed, and electrical connection made, when immediately the motor car ploughed its way through the snow, and cleared the track.
1897   Railroad Gaz. 22 Oct. 747/1   The Schenectady Locomotive Works has just built a steam motor car for the New England Railroad.
1934   Railroad Stories Nov. 93/1   Rail motor cars equipped with horns instead of whistles use whistle codes.
1952   Railroad Mag. Nov. 121/2   In those days..there were no track-inspection motor cars.
1990   Esquire May 44/1,   I would be getting up early to hop the motorcar to the White Pass & Yukon Railroad.

1878—1990(Hide quotations)

 
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 2. A road vehicle powered by a motor (usually an internal-combustion engine), designed to carry a driver and a small number of passengers, and usually having two front and two rear wheels, esp. for private, commercial, or leisure use; an automobile; = car n.1 4. Cf. private car n. (b) at private adj.1, adv., and n. Special uses 2.In the U.K. Road Traffic Act 1988 c. 52, § 185(1), the term is applied to such vehicles designed to carry not more than eight people and weighing not more than 3050 kg (approx. 3.00 tons).

1895   Westm. Gaz. 10 Sept. 3/2   The chief reason why motor-cars have not been more generally adopted in America lies in the roughness..of the roads.
1895   Daily Chron. 29 Oct. 5/1   A name has not yet been found for horseless carriages... The latest suggestion we have had is ‘motor car’. Mr. F. R. Sim[m]s, who is responsible for it, urges [etc.].
1898   H. G. Wells War of Worlds i. xvi. 153   Most of the fugitives..were mounted on cycles, but there were soon motor cars, hansom cabs, and carriages hurrying along.
1912   J. Stephens Charwoman's Daughter 22   Carriages and motor-cars.
1925   G. K. Chesterton Everlasting Man i. i. 22   The sort of comfort that might be given to a nervous old woman travelling for the first time in a motor-car.
1939   Punch 8 Nov. 517/1   Business-men from neutral countries should be met with red-carpeted gangways and military bands, and passed in lush motor-cars from one feast to the next.
1942   E. Ferber Saratoga Trunk i. 4   Reporters had swarmed by plane, motorcar and train.
1972   Daily Tel. 20 Oct. (Colour Suppl.) 52/1   The Rolls-Royce approach to making motor cars (they are never just ‘cars’ at Crewe).
1986   R. Narayan Talkative Man 9   A promising, developing town—motor cars in the streets.
2000   Independent 6 July i. 9/1   The diverse vocabulary of architecture and design at the service of the motor car.

1895—2000(Hide quotations)

 

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  General attrib.

1896   Daily News 5 Feb. 5/3   The Motor Car Club.
1909   Daily Graphic 26 July 7/4   Numbers came from all the neighbouring towns, while motor-car parties came from considerable distances.
1931   H. G. Wells Work, Wealth & Happiness (1932) 21   The motor-car ‘bandit’.
1937   Dict. National Biogr. 1922–30 404/2   He was killed in a motor-car accident in Dorsetshire.
1951   C. H. D. Cullingford Exploring Caves iii. 46   A sump is a chamber where water collects at the lowest level in a system where water circulates (compare the ‘sump’ in a motor-car engine).
1970   ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird i. 4   George is a motor-car salesman.
1991   J. Kingdom Local Govt. & Politics in Brit. v. 68   The great industrial cities developed in what is sometimes called a ‘Fordist’ era (after the famous motor car manufacturer).

1896—1991(Hide quotations)

 

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    This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002).

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