tin Lizzie
See also: tin lizzie and Tin Lizzie
English
Tin Lizzie
Alternative forms
- Tin Lizzie, tin lizzie
Etymology
Unknown, perhaps from the use of Lizzie as a generic name given to horses.
Noun
tin Lizzie (plural tin Lizzies)
- (informal, dated) The Ford Motor Company's Model T automobile.
- 1917, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 6, in The Oakdale Affair:
- Fate, in the guise of a rural free delivery carrier and a Ford, passed by the front gate. . . . "I don' see why he don't carry a whip," mused Jeb Case. "A-gidappin' to that there tin lizzie," he muttered disgustedly, "jes' like it was as good as a hoss."
- 1947 April 21, "Michigan: Detroit Dynast," Time:
- The Model T became a legend. . . . The Tin Lizzie rattled and banged across the country.
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- (informal, by extension) A small, unpretentious, vintage automobile, especially one that is in run-down condition.
- Synonyms: flivver, jalopy; see also Thesaurus:old car
- 1921, Booth Tarkington, chapter 6, in Alice Adams:
- "It's a ottomobile. . . . It's a second-hand tin Lizzie," said Walter. "D'you know what that means? It means a flivver."
- 2003, Thomas Rendell Curran, Undertow, →ISBN, page 160:
- "The car he was driving was a shit-box, a real Tin Lizzie, older than Christ."
Further reading
Ford Model T on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - tin Lizzie at OneLook Dictionary Search