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Glite Dictionary
dune buggy

dune buggy

7 4.4
A small open car with large tires for driving on sand
  • noun
  • /duːn ˈbʌɡi/
translation icon : buggy de dunas
  • We took the dune buggy out to the beach for a day of fun in the sand.
  • drive a dune buggy
  • motorcycles and dune buggies
  • dune buggy driver

Examples

  • We'll get the dune buggy and we'll whiz right out there.

    Eegah (1962)

  • His eyes wide, a smile on his face, Pipeline hurries over to the dune buggy, grabs another surfboard from the back, and hands it to Plissken.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • My dune buggy's all ready to go.

    Eegah (1962)

  • I once drove a dune buggy.

    Over the Top (1987)

  • The dune buggy's just down the canyon.

    Eegah (1962)

  • It's too bad we didn't bring the dune buggy and go after him.

    Eegah (1962)

  • Charley is as happy as a kid with a new dune buggy.

    Winning (1969)

  • A dune buggy can go cross-country.

    Assassination (1987)

  • Pipeline's dune buggy comes bumping along the canyon bottom, sloshing through water, pulling up next to Plissken.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The dune buggy raced across the desert, kicking up clouds of sand behind it.

Synonyms

beach buggy
vsdune buggy
3.8

A small open vehicle with large tires for driving on sand

is lighter and open in construction rather than just small in size

Surface Forms

dune buggy singular
dune buggies plural

Morphology

dune + buggy

The compound is directly compositional: 'dune' (sand hill) + 'buggy' (a light vehicle) yields a light vehicle for use on dunes or beaches. This noun+noun pattern is common and the intended meaning is straightforward for a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Dune buggy comes from two simple images: a dune is a hill of sand and a buggy is a small, light vehicle. People began making tiny open cars to race and play on sand hills, so the name dune buggy came to mean 'a light, open vehicle for driving on sand'.