clown car

Noun

clown car (plural clown cars)

1. A circus clown routine in which an implausibly large number of clowns climb into or out of a small car.
   • Kids of all ages have been applauding the clown car trick for more than 60 years, ever since it was first introduced in 1950 by master clown Otto Griebling at the Cole Brothers Circus.2012, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Vroom!
   • It looked as if around fifty people got out and it reminded me of a clown car at a circus.2014, Allen Laycock, Hereditary Decision, page 9
2. The undersized car used in a circus clown car routine.
   • Tiny chugging clown cars drive into the arena, and clown after clown after clown climbs out, enough to fill a bus.1962, Freeman H. Hubbard, Great days of the circus, page 132
   • My first experience of clown, like most people, was at the circus. I cried. The clown car exploded and fell apart. I cried.2004, Eric Weitz, The Power of Laughter: Comedy and Contemporary Irish Theatre
3. (broadly, derogatory, often) A very small car.
   • The two-stroke-engine powered, built-with-communist-pride Trabant — a very small, two-door, clown car that resembles a shrunken '55 Chevy — does not particularly excite me.2000, Automotive Manufacturing & Production: AM & P.
   • Eleven days later, Madame Chabosson met us at her office parking lot and the five of us squeezed ourselves into her little clown car.2007, Rebecca S. Ramsey, French By Heart
4. (broadly) A car or small enclosed space with too many people or things in it.
   • At the grocery store, a clown car as everyone unfolds, gets out, stretches legs and goes inside, stopping a moment in appreciation of air conditioning.2007, Kansas City Metropolitan Verse, volume 2, page 26
   • I hope you enjoy this endlessly overstuffed clown car of trivia (Ken Jennings's Trivia Clown Car?).2008, Ken Jennings, Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac, page ix
5. (derogatory, figuratively, often) Any process with a comically large number of participants, especially participants who themselves are comical or ridiculous.
   • clown-car primaries
   • The personnel moves were startling—some say Machiavellian—and have kept tongues wagging in a city that takes its fractious politics seriously. At The San Francisco Examiner, where street sales rose by as much as 4,000 a day during the frenetic episode, a columnist, Rob Morse, wrote: “The clown car...1992 April 18, Jane Gross, quoting Rob Morse, “New Mayor's 'Shaky' Start Has San Francisco Puzzled”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
6. (literally) A car for clowns, especially the car of a circus train that carries the clowns.
   • I lost complete track of Frank Sinatra and while I was hunting for him I saw a fellow with my tramp makeup on, waiting to get into the clown car.1956, Emmett Kelly, Clown, page 208
   • Well, you said you wanted to see the rest of the train. You know, the clown car and all.1989, Kristopher Antekeier, Greg Aunapu, Ringmaster!
7. (derogatory) A car that looks gaudy or otherwise ridiculous.
   • Through our parade fees we have purchased a 1938 LaSalle hearse (which we painted red and yellow) and our own public address system, which is mounted on our clown car (hearse).1956, American Bicyclist and Motorcyclist, volume 77, page lxvii
   • Their curses could be heard late into the evening, when one by one they would climb into dilapidated clown cars and speed away.2006, John Crawford, The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell