clown cars

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!
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
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.
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
5. (derogatory, figuratively, often) Any process with a comically large number of participants, especially participants who themselves are comical or ridiculous.
   • clown-car primaries
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

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