motorcycles

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of motorcycle.

   A line of motorcycles roared past the spectators at the rally.

   The police seized two motorcycles during the raid.

   Note

   A regular plural, made with a plain -s. It covers everything the noun names, including the occasional three-wheeled machine as well as the usual two-wheeled kind. The same spelling is also the verb's present-tense form, so context tells them apart. A determiner or number in front (two motorcycles, the motorcycles) marks the noun. A singular subject before it (she motorcycles to work) marks the verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of motorcycle.

   My neighbor motorcycles to the coast almost every weekend.

   She motorcycles through the mountain passes despite the thin air.

   Note

   The verb behind this form is intransitive. It takes no direct object, so what follows names a destination or a route: to the coast, through the mountain passes. Where English often says rides a motorcycle, the one-word verb folds the vehicle into the action itself. The -s ending belongs only to a singular he, she or it in the present. With a plural subject it drops away: they motorcycle.

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