car

Less common meanings

4. 4
   railroad loadnouncountable

   A rough unit of quantity equal to the amount that would fill a railroad car.

   The mine shipped forty cars of coal east every week.

   He ordered a car of lumber for the new warehouse.

   UsageUsually cars of + the load: forty cars of coal; carload says it more explicitly.

   Similarcarload, wagonload

   Note

   Commerce turned the railroad car into a measure. You order or ship cars of gypsum, coal or lumber, and markets count arrivals in cars per day, as a Texas agricultural bulletin did in 1907. The measure is rough by design, because it names a load rather than a weight. Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • A Texas agricultural bulletin dated 1907 reported market quantities in cars per day. en.wiktionary.org
5. 5
   vehicle qualitiesnouncolloquialUSuncountable

   All that a car offers in desirable qualities, taken as a whole.

   For under thirty thousand dollars, the sedan delivers an awful lot of car.

   Reviewers warned that the turbocharged version might be more car than most buyers need.

   UsageTakes quantity words but no a: a lot of car, more car than most buyers need.

6. 6
   cartnounarchaic

   A wheeled vehicle drawn by a horse or other animal, such as a cart or chariot.

   He has deserved it [armour], were it carbuncled Like holy Phoebus’ car.

   c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”

   In a poem by Sappho, Aphrodite is represented as riding in a car drawn by sparrows.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs

   Note

   This sense survives where the writing is grand. Marlowe's Edward the Second (1594) sets Caesar in his triumphant carre, Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra invokes holy Phoebus' car, and Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros (1922) seats a lord in a car of polished ebony behind six black horses. Gods and grandees ride in it, even Sappho's Aphrodite, drawn by sparrows. In plain modern prose, readers will picture an engine. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

   • Christopher Marlowe wrote Edward the Second, first published in 1594. emed.folger.edu
   • Gaveston compares himself to Caesar riding with captive kings at his triumphant car; the original spelling is Carre. emed.folger.edu
   • Antony and Cleopatra is a work by William Shakespeare. shakespeare.mit.edu
   • Mark Antony invokes holy Phoebus' car in Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV, Scene VIII. shakespeare.mit.edu
   • E. R. Eddison wrote The Worm Ouroboros, first published in 1922. gutenberg.org
   • The Worm Ouroboros depicts the Red Foliot seated in a polished ebony car drawn by six black horses. gutenberg.org
   • Sappho depicts Aphrodite travelling in a chariot drawn by sparrows. en.wikisource.org
7. 7
   nounobsoleteUK

   In Birmingham, England, formerly, a four-wheeled horse-drawn cab, as distinguished from the two-wheeled hansom.

   Note

   A Birmingham usage, now obsolete, built on a contrast between two kinds of cab. A Hansom ran on two wheels and a car ran on four, so the word sorted cabs by their wheels. Because the distinction belonged to local British speech, it needs explaining today. Most readers will take a car standing beside a Hansom for an anachronism. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • In obsolete Birmingham usage, car distinguished a four-wheeled cab from a two-wheeled hansom. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   noun

   A sliding fitting that travels along a track, such as the adjustable fittings that control sheet angles on a sailboat.
9. 9
   nounslangUS

   In prison, a group of inmates who band together and answer for one another.
10. 10
    nounUS

    A floating perforated box used to keep living fish in the water.
11. 11
    noun

    In Lisp, the first part of a cons cell, which in a list holds the first element.