# car

Pronunciation: US say "KAR" /kɑɹ/; UK say "KAH" /kɑː/

## Noun

1. A motor vehicle with at least three wheels, steered by a driver and used mainly for personal transportation, smaller than a truck or bus.
   - Simple: A road vehicle, usually with four wheels and an engine or motor, that a driver uses to carry a few people.
   - _He left his car at the shop for a new set of tires._
   - _Electric cars now make up a growing share of new vehicle sales._
2. A single vehicle that runs on rails as part of a train, for passengers or freight, powered or unpowered (a freight car, subway car, mine car). *(Canada, US)*
   - Simple: One of the separate parts of a train that carry people or goods.
   - _The derailed car spilled grain across the tracks._
   - _Passengers moved to the dining car as the train left the station._
3. The compartment that carries people or loads in an elevator, cable railway, amusement ride, balloon, or airship.
   - Simple: The box or seat part that carries people in an elevator, a ride, or a balloon.
   - _Technicians inspected the cables before letting the car return to service._
   - _High winds stopped the aerial tramway, leaving the car suspended above the valley._
4. A rough unit of quantity equal to the amount that would fill a railroad car.
   - Simple: An amount of goods big enough to fill one railroad car.
   - _The mine shipped forty cars of coal east every week._
   - _He ordered a car of lumber for the new warehouse._
5. All that a car offers in desirable qualities, taken as a whole. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: All the good qualities of a vehicle, such as power, comfort, and style, taken together.
   - _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._

## Noun

6. A wheeled vehicle drawn by a horse or other animal, such as a cart or chariot. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A vehicle with wheels pulled by a horse or other animal, like a cart or chariot.
7. In Birmingham, England, formerly, a four-wheeled horse-drawn cab, as distinguished from the two-wheeled hansom. *(obsolete, UK)*
   - Simple: A horse-drawn taxi with four wheels, once used in Birmingham, England.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A sliding fitting that travels along a track, such as the adjustable fittings that control sheet angles on a sailboat.
- (noun) In prison, a group of inmates who band together and answer for one another.
- (noun) A floating perforated box used to keep living fish in the water.
- (noun) In Lisp, the first part of a cons cell, which in a list holds the first element.

## Origin

Inherited from Middle English carre, it was borrowed from Anglo-Norman carre and Old Northern French, from Latin carrus ("two-wheeled baggage wagon"). This came from Gaulish and Proto-Celtic *karros ("wagon"), ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to run."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/car (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).