ˈmotor car
[motor n. 5.]
A wheeled vehicle or ‘horseless carriage’, propelled by a motor engine and used esp. as a private conveyance on the road; an automobile. Also attrib.
| 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. Sims, who is responsible for it, urges [etc.]. 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 of Mankind (1932) 21 The motor-car ‘bandit’. 1970 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird i. 4 George is a motor-car salesman. 1972 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 20 Oct. 52/1 The Rolls-Royce approach to making motor cars (they are never just ‘cars’ at Crewe). 1974 Times 4 Dec. 17/2 The motor-car industry..has been the most important single engine of economic development in industrial countries for the past fifty years. |
Hence ˈmotor-carist, a motorist; ˈmotor-carring, travel in a motor car.
| 1899 Motor-Car World I. 37/2 Many of the disabilities under which motorcarists suffer in England will be removed. 1901 ‘Saki’ Let. 17 Aug. in Square Egg (1924) 61 Travelling with Aunt Tom is more exciting than motorcarring. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 12 Jan. 10/1 The champion motor-carist of the House of Commons. |