car

Meaning

Noun

• A wheeled vehicle that moves independently, with at least three wheels, powered mechanically, steered by a driver and mostly for personal transportation.
• A wheeled vehicle, drawn by a horse or other animal; a chariot.
• An unpowered unit in a railroad train.
• an individual vehicle, powered or unpowered, in a multiple unit.
• A passenger-carrying unit in a subway or elevated train, whether powered or not.
• A rough unit of quantity approximating the amount which would fill a railroad car.
• The moving, load-carrying component of an elevator or other cable-drawn transport mechanism.
• The passenger-carrying portion of certain amusement park rides, such as Ferris wheels.
• The part of an airship, such as a balloon or dirigible, which houses the passengers and control apparatus.
• A sliding fitting that runs along a track.
• The aggregate of desirable characteristics of a car.
• A floating perforated box for living fish.
• A turn.
• The first part of a cons in Lisp. The first element of a list.

Origin

• Middle English carre, borrowed from Anglo-Norman carre, from Old Northern French (compare Old French char), from Latin carra, neuter plural of carrus, from Gaulish *karros, from Proto-Celtic *karros ("wagon").
• Etymology unclear, but probably from Proto-Germanic *karzijaną ("to turn"), from Proto-Indo-European *gers- ("to bend, turn"). Compare cair, char, Dutch keren ("to turn"), German Kehre ("turn, bend").
• Shakespeare had something of a fondness for verbalizing nouns, and sometimes even substantivizing verbs. However, anything other than a "turn" does not seem to make any sense within the broader context of the cited Sonnet.
• . Note that it was based on original hardware and has no meaning today.