drive-ins

Noun

drive-in (plural drive-ins)

1. (Australia, Canada, US) An outdoor cinema where movies are projected onto a large screen and patrons watch from inside their vehicles, listening either by a speaker or a designated radio frequency.
   • Owners and sponsors of the drive-ins feel that in three-quarters of their patrons they have tapped a practically prehistoric strain of human—the hitherto non-movie-goer.1975, David Manning White, Popular Culture, page 154

   Synonyms:

   drive-in cinema, drive-in movie, drive-in theatre

2. (Canada, US) A restaurant where patrons remain in their vehicles to consume their meals; the meal may be ordered and delivered to one's vehicle by a carhop waiter; or may require patrons to use a service counter. The cars in the parking lot serve as the patrons' dining room, there being a lack of dining rooms and tables.
   • The teenagers went down to the drive-in to order some hamburgers and fries.

   Synonyms:

   drive-in restaurant

3. (Canada, US) A drive-through restaurant where patrons remain in their vehicles and order food and beverages via a speaker phone; the meal is delivered by a service window accessible by car.
   • Even before franchising genius Ray A. Kroc approached Mac and Dick McDonald to become the licensing agent for their small San Bernardino (Calif.) restaurant, scores of drive-in operators had begun copying McDonald′s speedy burger-fries-and-shake menus. Love contends that Kroc′s success came largely...1986, Business Week, numbers 2967-2978, page 136

See all 5 meanings of drive-in