tin Lizzie

See also: tin lizzie and Tin Lizzie

English
Tin Lizzie

Alternative forms

Etymology

Unknown, perhaps from the use of Lizzie as a generic name given to horses.

Noun

tin Lizzie (plural tin Lizzies)

  1. (informal, dated) The Ford Motor Company's Model T automobile.
    • 1917, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 6, in The Oakdale Affair:
      Fate, in the guise of a rural free delivery carrier and a Ford, passed by the front gate. . . . "I don' see why he don't carry a whip," mused Jeb Case. "A-gidappin' to that there tin lizzie," he muttered disgustedly, "jes' like it was as good as a hoss."
    • 1947 April 21, “Michigan: Detroit Dynast”, in Time:
      The Model T became a legend. . . . The Tin Lizzie rattled and banged across the country.
  2. (informal, by extension) A small, unpretentious, vintage automobile, especially one that is in run-down condition.
    Synonyms: flivver, jalopy; see also Thesaurus:old car
    • 1921, Booth Tarkington, chapter 6, in Alice Adams:
      "It's a ottomobile. . . . It's a second-hand tin Lizzie," said Walter. "D'you know what that means? It means a flivver."
    • 2003, Thomas Rendell Curran, Undertow‎, →ISBN, page 160:
      "The car he was driving was a shit-box, a real Tin Lizzie, older than Christ."

Further reading
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