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Glite Dictionary
dicky engine

dicky engine

9.6
An engine that often stops working and leaves you stranded
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : motor defectuoso
  • The mechanic warned that a dicky engine could leave us stranded on the highway.

Examples

  • After months of trouble, she finally replaced the dicky engine with a newer model.

  • Don't buy that old truck; it has a dicky engine!

  • My old van still runs, but the dicky engine makes every journey a gamble.

  • The car has a dicky engine that stalls frequently.

  • My old van still runs, but the dicky engine makes every journey a gamble.

  • The mechanic warned that a dicky engine could leave us stranded on the highway.

  • Don't buy that old truck; it has a dicky engine!

How Reliable

dicky engine
  • UK
9.6

Surface Forms

dicky engine singular
dicky engines plural

Morphology

dicky + engine

The meaning 'an engine that is unreliable or faulty' is directly derivable from combining 'dicky' (faulty/unreliable) with 'engine' (machine), following a straightforward adjective + noun compositional pattern. Even though 'dicky' is colloquial, the semantic relation is transparent and a B1 learner who knows both words would infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The phrase dicky engine comes from old British slang dicky, which meant 'sick' or 'not working'. People pictured an engine as a living thing, so a dicky engine was one that might fail on the road, and that's why it now means 'unreliable'.