▪ I. ‖ auto, n.1
(ˈaʊtəʊ)
[Sp. and Pg.:—L. actu-s act.]
1. A play. Cf. act n. 7.
| 1779 H. Swinburne Trav. Spain iii. 9 Autos and mysterios are prohibited on the theatres of Madrid. 1848 A. Jameson Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850) 339 Calderon founded on it one of his finest autos, the ‘Magico Prodigioso.’ |
2. for auto-da-fé. Cf. act n. 9.
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Act, They usually contrive the Auto to fall on some great festival. 1823 Byron Age of Bronze vii, The faith's red ‘auto,’ fed with human fuel. |
▪ II. auto, n.2
(ˈɔːtəʊ)
1. Colloq. abbrev. of automobile n. after F. auto; also attrib. and Comb.; auto court U.S., a motel. See also auto-2.
| 1899 Boston Herald 9 July 6/3 The accident to Mr. W. K. Vanderbilt's ‘auto’. 1901 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 30 Oct. 6/1 These auto enthusiasts are trying hard. 1902 Aeronautical World (U.S.) 1 Oct. 60/1 Cycles, autos and all other contrivances for rapid transit. 1910 Daily Chron. 12 Mar. 6/4 The auto-manufacturing business. 1922 Hotel World 11 Mar. 6/2 The chamber of commerce of Santa Barbara, Cal., fathers an ‘auto camp’. 1925 Beaver Sept. 201/2 All our ‘tourists’ report..the auto camps doing a roaring business. 1927 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 646/2 The auto-trip to Ixtlan del Rio. 1928 Sunday Express 24 June 8/2, I was raised in Canada sixty odd years ago, when..the country was not safe for slick auto-tourists. 1930 R. Macaulay Staying with Relations xix. 274 Sign-boards..telling travellers about hotels and auto-camps. 1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice i. 9 A half-dozen shacks that they called an auto court. 1962 Economist 20 Oct. 277/2 This demand..has surprised many automen. |
2. Abbrev. of autotype 2. rare.
| 1882 Swinburne Lett. (1960) IV. 309 The autos gave great satisfaction. |
3. Abbrev. of autobiography. rare.
| 1940 V. Woolf Writer's Diary 6 Jan. (1953) 323, I suppose the origin of many of the new middle aged autos. |
▸ auto body n. chiefly N. Amer. the outer covering of a motor vehicle (typically made of metal, fibreglass, or plastic), as distinguished from its chassis; chiefly attrib.
| 1912 Indianapolis (Indiana) Sunday Star 15 Sept. 23/5 We need..*Auto body makers. 1950 N. Cassady Let. 20 Nov. (2005) 208 A..chief who'd left the reservation long ago to become a skilled autobody mechanic. 1995 Miami (Florida) Herald (Nexis) 30 Apr. 11 g Some auto bodies are fiberglass. 2003 Directory Distance Learning Opportunities 23 Basic principles and ‘how-to’ steps for auto body reconstruction and repair. |
▸ autocrime n. a crime involving a motor vehicle; (chiefly Brit.) any of various crimes involving theft from or of, or criminal damage to, a motor vehicle; (also) crimes of this type considered collectively.
| 1904 Chicago Daily Tribune 23 Nov. 2/2 (headline) Prisoner picked up in Channahon not clearly linked with ‘*auto’ crime. 1974 Times 7 Mar. 4/7 ‘Autocrime’ (stealing cars and from them) increased by 4 per cent. 1992 Crime & Justice 16 16 The street immediately outside victims' residences was the most common location for ‘autocrimes’ (thefts of and from vehicles and vandalism). 2002 Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 2 Aug. 27 The arrest of offenders responsible for..auto crime. |
▸ autojumble n. chiefly Brit. a sale of assorted second-hand motor vehicle parts and accessories, esp. for discontinued or vintage models; cf. jumble n.1 1b.
| 1967 Times 25 Aug. 13/2 *Autojumble '67. An American Style ‘Swap Meet’. Montagu Motor Museum. Beaulieu. 1986 Motorcycle Sport Sept. 395/3, I had..a stall at the autojumble. 2000 Pract. Classics June 20/4 The brake components, already at autojumble prices, are subject to a further 10% discount. |
▸ automania n. orig. and chiefly N. Amer. (excessive) enthusiasm for motor vehicles and motoring.
| 1903 Los Angeles Times 17 May v. 3/4 *Automania. 1904 Chicago Daily Tribune 14 Sept. 1/5 Suffers from ‘automania’... She could think of nothing but auto riding. 1995 Explicator Winter 125 The automania that came on the prosperity and technological prowess of post-war America. |
▸ automaniac n. orig. and chiefly N. Amer. (a) a person who drives recklessly or at excessive speed; (b) an enthusiast for motor vehicles and motoring.
| 1902 Horseless Age 23 July 84/1 There seems to be need of a term to designate those speed crazed paranoiacs who are now doing so much to bring the automobile into disrepute... We suggest the word ‘*automaniac’. 1963 N.Y. Times Mag. 29 Sept. 50/1 An automaniac is..one who, clad in the goggles and duster of a bygone age, mounts an antique automobile and goes pop-popping about the landscape. 1988 Newsday (Nexis) 21 Jan. 79 A new breed of automaniacs leave little doubt that they would shove you off the road for not moving fast enough. 2003 Winnipeg Free Press (Nexis) 12 Apr. 5 (caption) Auto-maniacs gather for the annual auto show. |
▸ auto pollution n. pollution caused by motor-vehicle exhaust emissions.
| 1924 N.Y. Times 31 Dec. 12/7 (headline) *Auto pollution of the air. 2003 M. Albert Parecon i. iii. 60 Others in society..breathe the auto pollution the car generates. |
▸ autotest n. Motor Racing an automobile race; spec. (chiefly Brit.) a slalom contest (cf. slalom n. 4).
| 1901 N.Y. Times 21 Apr. 9/3 Wet weather *auto test... Seldom, if ever, has a road race..been conducted under more disagreeable conditions. 1973 Times 13 July (Motor Racing section) p.vii/2 With the reduction in rally events the other branches of the sport have blossomed—sprints, hill-climbs, rallycross, auto-test, autocross and drag racing. 2000 Irish Times (Nexis) 27 Oct. (Sports section) 20 Unless [he] can maintain his current meteoric progress around the autotest markers. |
▸ auto worker n. N. Amer. a person employed in the motor-vehicle manufacturing industry.
| 1909 Racine (Wisconsin) Daily Jrnl. (Electronic ed.) 23 Aug. The *Auto Workers are to be congratulated upon the arrangements made. 1929 R. W. Dunn Labor & Automobiles iv. 59 The steady machinization..left the ‘typical auto worker’ a mere machine operator. 1997 Toronto Sun (Nexis) 3 June 1 Auto workers want to get their fair share of the enormous profits the auto makers rake in every year. |
▸ auto wrecking n. N. Amer. the action or business of dismantling disused motor vehicles, usually in order to reclaim and resell the parts and scrap; chiefly attrib.
| 1910 Modesto (Calif.) Evening News 13 Mar. 5/1 (advt.) Modesto *Auto Wrecking Company. 1936 J. Steinbeck In Dubious Battle 42 The great trash piles of auto-wrecking yards. 1996 Newsday (Nexis) 10 June ii. b3 [He] was learning the fine art of auto wrecking—by hand... [They] used chisels and hammers to dismantle junked cars. |
▪ III. auto, v. U.S.
(ˈɔːtəʊ)
Shortened form of automobile v. So autoing (ˈɔːtəʊɪŋ), vbl. n.
| 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., Autoing, the use of automobiles for business or pleasure traveling. 1916 Sphere 12 Feb. 180/3, I find the following commentary on new verbs in the New York Outlook: ‘..{oqq}Thursday we autoed to the country club.{cqq}’ 1919 Mencken Amer. Lang. 110 Auto is almost unknown [in England], and with it the verb to auto. 1940 Bryant & Aiken Psychol. of English 84 We plan to auto through the mountains. |