Flivver

//ˈflɪv.ɚ// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An automobile or cart, particularly one which is old and inexpensive. Canada, US, colloquial, dated

    "Billy being too poor to own a car, had hired a cheap flivver for the day, and was purposely ten minutes behind the time, but to his disgust found the procession not yet started."

  2. 2
    An automobile or cart, particularly one which is old and inexpensive.; A Ford Model T. Canada, US, colloquial, dated
  3. 3
    A destroyer of the United States Navy with a displacement of less than 1,000 tons. US, derogatory, historical, slang

Synonyms

All synonyms
bangerbeaterbucketbucket of boltsbucket of rustclunker

Example

More examples

"Billy being too poor to own a car, had hired a cheap flivver for the day, and was purposely ten minutes behind the time, but to his disgust found the procession not yet started."

Etymology

Unknown, early 20th c.; in 1919, cartoonist Tad Dorgan claimed to have created the term in his comic strip Judge Rummy.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.