Chelsea tractor
- noun
- Slang
:
SUV de Chelsea
- He traded his old hatchback for a flashy Chelsea tractor.
Examples
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There's been a surge in the number of Chelsea tractors parked outside cafes.
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Her new Chelsea tractor barely fits in the narrow city streets.
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Look at that Chelsea tractor!
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She drives a Chelsea tractor to work every day.
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Her new Chelsea tractor barely fits in the narrow city streets.
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There's been a surge in the number of Chelsea tractors parked outside cafes.
-
He traded his old hatchback for a flashy Chelsea tractor.
How Large
Surface Forms
Morphology
Chelsea + tractor
The components give partial clues: 'Chelsea' signals an affluent urban area and 'tractor' conveys a large vehicle, so a learner might infer the phrase refers to a big car associated with that neighbourhood. However, the expression relies on ironic/pejorative, culture-specific use of 'tractor' to mean a luxury urban SUV, which is not directly derivable from the literal words without sociolinguistic knowledge.
Etymology
Chelsea tractor comes from a funny image of a big farm tractor parked in the smart London area of Chelsea, so people imagined a heavy work vehicle being used only for show in the city. That's why it means 'a large, showy luxury SUV driven in towns rather than used off-road'.