different between jalopy vs automobile

English

Etymology

Unknown. Perhaps from Jalapa, Mexico, to whose scrap yards used cars were often sent from New Orleans starting in the 1920s. First recorded written use in 1924.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d???l?.pi/

Noun

jalopy (plural jalopies)

1. (US, dated) An old, dilapidated or unpretentious automobile.
   • 1979, Jack Kerouac, On the road, page 3:

     Dean is the perfect guy for the road because he was actually born on the road, when his parents were passing through Salt Lake City in 1926, in a jalopy, on their way to Los Angeles.

   • 2003, Terrance Dicks & Barry Letts, Deadly Reunion, chapter 22:

     There's only a rough track and I doubt if that jalopy of yours will make it.

2. (US, dated, slang) A hip, cool, groovy automobile.

Synonyms

• banger, beater, bucket of bolts, clunker, crate, flivver, hooptie, junker, rattletrap, rustbucket, tin Lizzie,lemon

Translations

References

English

Etymology

From French automobile, from Ancient Greek ????? (autós, “self”) + French mobile (“moving”), from Latin m?bilis (“movable”).

Pronunciation

• (noun, verb)
  • (UK, General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /???.t?.m??bi?l/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /??.t?.mo??bil/
  • Hyphenation: au?to?mo?bile
• (adjective)
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /???t???m??ba?l/

Noun

automobile (plural automobiles)

1. (US, Canada) A type of vehicle designed to move on the ground under its own stored power and intended to carry a driver, a small number of additional passengers, and a very limited amount of other load. A car or motorcar.

Usage notes

• The word automobile usually implies a car with seating for perhaps four or five passengers.
• A vehicle with more than six or seven seats is usually described as a limousine, minivan, van, SUV, bus, etc.

Synonyms

• (passenger vehicle): auto, car, (British) motor, (British) motorcar
• See also Thesaurus:automobile

Coordinate terms

• truck, van, bus, SUV, minivan, station wagon, sedan, coupe, convertible, sports car, racecar; wagon, cart, trailer, tractor; airplane, boat, ship

Related terms

• automatic
• automotive

Descendants

• ? Alabama: mobìlika
• ? Hawaiian: ?okomopila

Translations

Verb

automobile (third-person singular simple present automobiles, present participle automobiling, simple past and past participle automobiled)

1. (intransitive, dated) To travel by automobile.

Translations

Adjective

automobile (not comparable)

1. Self-moving; self-propelled.
   • 1919, Nikola Tesla, My Inventions

     As early as 1898 I proposed to representatives of a large manufacturing concern the construction and public exhibition of an automobile carriage which, left to itself, would perform a great variety of operations involving something akin to judgment.

   Synonym: autokinetic

Translations

French

Etymology

auto- +? mobile, as the vehicle is powered by an engine rather than pulled by horses.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o.t?.m?.bil/
• Homophone: automobiles
• Hyphenation: au?to?mo?bile

Adjective

automobile (plural automobiles)

1. automotive

Noun

automobile f (plural automobiles)

1. automobile

Synonyms

• (informal) auto
• (France, informal) bagnole
• (France, informal) caisse
• (Quebec, Louisiana) char
• (France, informal) tire
• voiture

Derived terms

• automobilisable
• automobilisme
• automobiliste
• canot automobile

Descendants

• ? Dutch: automobiel
• ? English: automobile
• ? German: Automobil
• ? Russian: ??????????? (avtomobíl?)
  • ? Armenian: ????????? (avtomobil)
  • ? Azerbaijani: avtomobil
  • ? Georgian: ?????????? (av?omobili)
  • ? Kazakh: ?????????? (avtomobïl?)
  • ? Uyghur: ??????????? (aptomobil)
  • ? Uzbek: avtomobil

Further reading

• “automobile” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

auto- +? mobile

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aw.to?m?.bi.le/
• Hyphenation: au?to?mò?bi?le
• Rhymes: -?bile

Noun

automobile f (plural automobili)

1. automobile

   Synonyms: auto, macchina, vettura