Skip to main content
buggy whip

buggy whip

1 9.9
A tool that makes horses move when they pull a small carriage and now means something old-fashioned
  • noun
  • /ˈbʌɡi wɪp/
  • Archaic
translation icon : látigo de coche
  • Sorry, but if it takes 2 hours for Johnie to make a buggy whip and his wages are $10.00/hr, you have $20.00 plus materials plus profit.
  • making buggy whips

So right the the car, you know, the automobile displaced a lot of carriage drivers and people who sold buggy whips and blacksmiths who made horseshoes.

Examples

  • The invention of the automobile rendered the once-essential buggy whip a mere relic of the past.

  • Why did we, you know, make the buggy whip industry obsolete?

  • Kind of like the last buggy whip manufacturer.

    Blog text (16)
  • What would we do with all those buggy whips?

    Blog text (17)
  • Problem is, nobody wants buggy whips anymore.

    Blog text (9)
  • And I'm expecting my heavy investments in the buggy whip sector to help me through the recession.

    Blog text (23)
  • Those who can't or won't change with it will be making buggy whips tomorrow.

    Blog text (27)
  • By buying stocks, the average citizen takes part in determining which capital investments will prevail in the future and which will go the way of the buggy whip.

    Blog text (3)
  • So right the the car, you know, the automobile displaced a lot of carriage drivers and people who sold buggy whips and blacksmiths who made horseshoes.

  • As technology advanced, the demand for buggy whips dwindled, highlighting how quickly some products can become obsolete.

Synonyms

riding crop
vsbuggy whip
6 6.7

A short whip used to guide a horse when a person sits on it

is better known as a cultural symbol of being outdated now
horsewhip
vsbuggy whip
1 7.0

A long leather strap used to guide or urge horses

is mainly a former tool now seen as a symbol of obsolescence
quirt
vsbuggy whip
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A short leather whip for guiding horses

is regarded more as an obsolete symbol than a practical driving tool

Antonyms

1.4

Relating to the present time and new ways of doing things

592 3.3

Closely connected to what people are talking about or doing

How Outdated

oxcart
1 8.2
buggy whip
  • Archaic
1 9.9
typewriter
  • Archaic
98 3.2
smartphone
227 1.8

Surface Forms

buggy whip singular
buggy whips plural

Morphology

buggy + whip

The compound is literally compositional — a learner who knows 'buggy' and 'whip' can infer a whip used with a horse-drawn buggy, so the basic concrete sense is transparent. However, its common metaphorical extension to mean 'a symbol of something outdated or obsolete' is a cultural/idiomatic shift not predictable from the parts, making the overall expression only partially transparent.

Etymology

Buggy whip comes from a simple tool: a buggy was a small horse carriage and a whip was used to make the horse go. When motor cars replaced horse buggies, the buggy whip was no longer needed, so the term came to mean 'something outdated'.