flivver

[ fliv-er ]

noun

1. Older Slang. an automobile, especially one that is small, inexpensive, and old.
2. Slang. something of unsatisfactory quality or inferior grade.

flivver

/ ˈflɪvə /

noun

1. an old, cheap, or battered car

Word History and Origins

Origin of flivver¹

An Americanism dating back to 1905–10; origin uncertain

Word History and Origins

Origin of flivver¹

C20: of unknown origin

Example Sentences

“All was crammed side by side. There were expensive antiques and ancient artifacts — fine clocks, needlepoint samplers — but also what you’d call junk: brass headlamps from an old flivver, for example. “He would move objects from room to room as he worked on the house.

From Washington Post

To be sure, the Flivver failed miserably.

From The Verge

Henry Ford said the single-seat Flivver would be "the Model T of the air," but after a prototype crashed in 1928, killing the pilot, the industrialist abandoned the idea.

From The Verge

Even Henry Ford, the inventor of the automobile, spearheaded his own version, the Ford Flivver.

From The Verge

The change would give a subtle, but distinctly different, cast to a classic score that was influenced by some of the leading composers of its day, and which followed in the footsteps of other works that employed so-called “found” instruments, including Satie’s 1917 ballet “Parade,” which uses a typewriter and gunshots, and Frederick Converse’s 1927 “Flivver Ten Million,” an ode to the Ford automobile, which uses car horns.

From New York Times