flivver

/ˈflɪv.ɚ/

Etymology

Unknown, early 20th c.. A book titled "At the Front in a Flivver" was published in 1917. Cartoonist Tad Dorgan in 1919 claimed to have created the term in his comic strip Judge Rummy.

noun

  1. An automobile or cart, particularly one which is old and inexpensive.“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. An automobile or cart, particularly one which is old and inexpensive.; A Ford Model T.
  3. A destroyer of the United States Navy with a displacement of less than 1,000 tons.