Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🤪 A foolish person 🐦 A seabird 🎥 A video insert 🚗 A small vehicle
noddy

noddy

9.9
A small motor vehicle used in the past for short local journeys
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : coche pequeño
  • The farmer drove his old noddy down the lane to deliver fresh milk.

Examples

  • They restored a vintage noddy for the local history museum's exhibition.

  • In the early 20th century, a noddy was a common sight in English villages.

  • The old noddy was perfect for local trips.

  • Many families used a noddy to travel around the village.

  • The farmer drove his old noddy down the lane to deliver fresh milk.

  • In the early 20th century, a noddy was a common sight in English villages.

  • They restored a vintage noddy for the local history museum's exhibition.

Synonyms

set of wheels
vsnoddy
  • Informal
8 5.0

A car or other vehicle someone owns

is a small simple historic vehicle meant for short rural journeys
horseless carriage
vsnoddy
  • Archaic
2 9.6

An early car from the late 1800s and early 1900s

is for small simple vehicles used later for short rural journeys

Surface Forms

noddy singular
noddies plural

Morphology

noddy = nod (opaque) = nod + y

The form can be segmented as 'nod' + '-y', but the historical vehicle sense is a lexicalized extension that is not straightforwardly recoverable from the parts.

Etymology

Noddy for the small vehicle was probably named by the same idea as the 'fool' noddy — something simple and small. A helpful way to remember it is to think of a tiny, slow cart used for short local trips, which fits the sense of 'simple' in the name.