hangar queen
- noun
- /ˈhæŋɡər kwiːn/
- Jargon
:
avión en tierra
- After years of service, the jet became a hangar queen and was seldom flown because of its ongoing technical problems.
Examples
-
The mechanic often refers to that old plane as a hangar queen because it rarely leaves the ground due to its constant maintenance issues.
-
An aircraft is made to fly, not be a hangar queen its entire life.
Blog text (14) -
Many pilots prefer to fly reliable aircraft instead of dealing with a hangar queen that frequently needs repairs.
Synonyms
4
6.1
An old car in bad condition that often breaks down
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The parts 'hangar' (a building for aircraft) and 'queen' (a metaphorical term for a prominent or notable thing) give a partial clue that this refers to a notable aircraft associated with a hangar, but they do not transparently convey the specific sense of being kept out of service or seldom flown because it needs frequent repairs. A B1 learner who knows the constituents might guess 'an important or notable plane in the hangar' but would not reliably infer the maintenance-related inactivity, so the expression is only partially predictable and somewhat jargon-specific.
Etymology
The phrase hangar queen comes from pilots who jokingly called a plane that sits in the hangar like a queen who never goes out. That picture of a plane that stays on the ground and keeps needing repairs explains why it means 'an aircraft kept out of service' or 'seldom flown'.