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Glite Dictionary
elevator car

elevator car

1 2.7
An enclosed space inside an elevator that carries people or goods between floors
  • noun
  • /ˈɛlɪˌveɪtər kɑr/
  • US
translation icon : cabina de ascensor
  • The elevator car stopped suddenly between the floors, leaving the passengers in suspense.

But the elevator car, the brakes, you know, they they designed elevator assemblies for this kind of thing.

Examples

  • The elevator car had opened behind Wunsch, and he turned for it.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Jack looks down into the elevator car through the grate.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Close on Ted's face as the elevator car races up seven floors.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Everyone loaded onto the elevator car, assuming the position: hands folded in front, eyes forward.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Sork craned his neck to see out the window of the elevator car.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • She slumped against the wall of the elevator car.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The large elevator car was already crowded with nurses and interns when several patients' families got on with us in the lobby.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • We've got a 12-second ETA on that elevator car.

    Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004)

  • All at once, the elevator car is full of birds—squawking wildly, flinging themselves against the wall, going insane in the tiny confined space.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • While travelling to the tenth floor, I enjoyed the view from the large window in the elevator car.

Synonyms

elevator
vselevator car
  • US
760 1.0

A machine that carries people and things up and down between floors

is only the moving compartment rather than the entire device
lift
vselevator car
  • UK
123 1.9

A machine that carries people or goods between floors

is focused on the compartment used inside building vertical transport
car
vselevator car
42 5.3

The part of an elevator that carries people up and down

is the specific compartment inside the shaft of a building vertical transport

How Big

freight elevator
  • US
8 3.4
elevator car
  • US
1 2.7
dumbwaiter
7 7.7

Surface Forms

elevator car singular
elevator cars plural

Morphology

elevator + car

The meaning 'the compartment of an elevator that carries passengers or goods' is directly and literally composed from 'elevator' (the lift) + 'car' (the enclosed cabin). This is a straightforward compound following normal English noun-composition patterns and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand it.

Etymology

Elevator car comes from two words: elevator, the lift, and car, a small vehicle for people or goods. Early lift cabins looked like little vehicles, so people called the enclosed space a car, and today elevator car means the part of the elevator that carries passengers or goods.