joyrider
1
6.9
- noun
- /ˈdʒɔɪˌraɪdər/
- The Volvos and the BMWs that the joyriders in Dublin go for.
Examples
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Some drugged out joyrider drove a landcruiser... ...through the security gate.
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Clearly, it wasn't mere "joyriders" who took it.
Blog text (34) -
The joyrider?
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One sympathizer explained in front of TV cameras that the police knew the names of the joyriders in the stolen car and could have let them go home and then arrested them the next day.
Academic text (2011) -
This ship, Mike, is mine, because I'm the one that keeps it from falling apart every time somebody called Mike takes us too close to a star or an asteroid belt or into a black hole or whatever it is you joyriders do when you're fumbling at those controls.
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This ship, Mike, is mine because I'm the one that keeps it from falling apart every time somebody called Mike takes us too close to a star or through an asteroid belt or into a black hole or whatever it is you joyriders do when you're fumbling at those controls.
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Those are two very different purposes, and the former is not particularly well suited for the latter, as thieves can easily defeat such a system (while mere "joyriders" wouldn't necessarily bother to defeat it).
Blog text (34) -
After all, a victim hit by a car and killed is just as dead whether he or she was run over by a ruthless hitman, crushed by a blindfolded joyrider on a busy pedestrian walkway, or sideswiped by a drunken driver.
Academic text (2009) -
The police caught a young joyrider who had stolen a car and crashed it into a tree.
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Last night, a group of teenagers were identified as joyriders after taking someone's car for a joyride around the neighborhood.
How Reckless
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Joyrider comes from joyride, which joins joy ('pleasure') and ride ('to travel in or on a vehicle') with the -er ending meaning 'one who'. So a joyrider is literally 'one who rides for pleasure', which is why the word is used for people who take cars without permission and often drive dangerously for fun.