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Glite Dictionary
hubcap

hubcap

18 3.7
A cover that fits over the middle of a car wheel to protect or decorate it
  • noun
  • /ˈhʌbˌkæp/
: tapacubos
  • After hitting a pothole, I discovered that one of my hubcaps had fallen off.
  • wheels with hubcaps
  • car's hubcaps
  • chrome hubcap

You know, I, I don't, it's like if someone wears something, oh, that's the guy with the purple shirt or that's the car with the ugly hubcaps.

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Examples

  • The camera finds a billboard welcoming visitors to the space center, while a lone hubcap rolls into frame.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The grass around the house was high and strewn with hubcaps, wheel rims, and bottles.

    Academic text (2009)

  • The boys look out the driver's side of the car to see the rear hubcap rolling away.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Now at least I know my hubcaps are safe.

    Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)

  • The water is up to the top of the front tires: up to the hubcaps on the rear wheels.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • She's gonna hate not having hubcaps.

    No Hard Feelings (2023)

  • They'll come looking for a hubcap, a grill, an accelerator cable, or a master cylinder.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Seconds later, the Chrysler was mired in sand up to its hubcaps.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • A bright-faced young black man polishing a hubcap at a car wash called Paul's Wash-O-Mat.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The shiny hubcap added a touch of elegance to the vintage car's appearance.

Surface Forms

hubcap singular
hubcaps plural

Morphology

hubcap = hub + cap (transparent) = hub + cap

The compound combines two common nouns whose meanings directly describe a cover (cap) for the wheel's hub, so the sense is immediately derivable.

Etymology

Hubcap is made of two simple parts: hub meaning the 'center' of a wheel and cap meaning a 'cover'. So a hubcap is a cover for the center of a car wheel, used to protect it or to make the wheel look nice.