car

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English carre, borrowed from Anglo-Norman carre, from Old Northern French (compare Old French char), from Latin carra, neuter plural of carrum (“four-wheeled baggage wagon”), from Gaulish *karros, from Proto-Celtic *karros (“wagon”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós (“vehicle”). Doublet of horse.

noun

1. A wheeled vehicle that moves independently, with at least three wheels, powered mechanically, steered by a driver and mostly for personal transportation.
   She drove her car to the mall.
   I'm a stunt; ride in the car with some bump in the trunk. 2005, “Stay Fly”, in Jordan Houston, Darnell Carlton, Paul Beauregard, Premro Smith, Marlon Goodwin, David Brown, Willie Hutchinson (lyrics), Most Known Unknown, performed by Three 6 Mafia (featuring Young Buck, 8 Ball, and MJG), Sony BMG
   If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the ever more expensive and then universally known killing hazards of gasoline cars: […] . 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion
2. (dated) A wheeled vehicle, drawn by a horse or other animal; a chariot.
   1. (UK, Birmingham, obsolete) A four-wheeled cab, as opposed to a (two-wheeled) Hansom cab.
3. (rail transport, chiefly Canada, US) An unpowered unit in a railroad train.
   The conductor coupled the cars to the locomotive.
4. (rail transport) an individual vehicle, powered or unpowered, in a multiple unit.
   The 11:10 to London was operated by a 4-car diesel multiple unit.
5. (rail transport) A passenger-carrying unit in a subway or elevated train, whether powered or not.
   From the frontmost car of the subway, he filmed the progress through the tunnel.
6. A rough unit of quantity approximating the amount which would fill a railroad car.
   We ordered five hundred cars of gypsum.
   This market reports only one or two cars per day, selling by the hundred weight, and at a price a little lower than that of Indian corn. 1907, Texas Agricultural, Mechanical College System, Bulletin, volumes 93-117, page 5
7. The moving, load-carrying component of an elevator or other cable-drawn transport mechanism.
   Fix the car of the express elevator - the door is sticking.
8. The passenger-carrying portion of certain amusement park rides, such as Ferris wheels.
   The most exciting part of riding a Ferris wheel is when your car goes over the top.
9. The part of an airship, such as a balloon or dirigible, which houses the passengers and control apparatus.
   Everything being apparently in readiness now, I stepped into the car of the balloon, […] 1850, John Wise, A System of Aeronautics, page 152
10. (sailing) A sliding fitting that runs along a track.
    On boats 25 feet or more, it is best to mount a mast car and track on the front of the mast so you can adjust the height of the pole above the deck 1995, Ken Textor, The New Book of Sail Trim, page 201
11. (uncountable, US, informal) The aggregate of desirable characteristics of a car.
    Buy now! You can get more car for your money.
12. (US) A floating perforated box for living fish.
13. (US, prison slang) A clique or gang.
14. (Internet) Deliberate misspelling of cat.

Etymology 2

Acronym of contents of the address part of register number. Note that it was based on original hardware and has no meaning today.

noun

1. (programming) The first part of a cons in Lisp. The first element of a list.
   Holonym: cons
   The elements of a list are the successive cars along the "cdr chain." That is, the elements are the car, the car of the cdr, the car of the cdr of the cdr, etc. 2000, Matt Kaufmann, Panagiotis Manolios, J Strother Moore, Computer-aided reasoning: an approach