lorry

A large and heavy motor vehicle designed to carry goods or soldiers; a truck

Noun

  1. A large and heavy motor vehicle designed to carry goods or soldiers; a truck
    • But whenever one of the motor-trucks lumbering by bore a big U.S. on its rear panel Troy pushed his light ambulance ahead and skimmed past, just for the joy of seeing the fresh young heads rising pyramid-wise about the...
    • The railway is still vital to Jordan's export trade, but in spite of the poor quality of the road, diesel lorries are gradually robbing it of freight traffic, and anyone who can afford to fly does so rather than face...
    • The most frequent age for starting in the actual occupation of lorry driving is 17 years. Trampers tend to start later, the mode amongst them being 19 years. The mean average age for beginning in lorry driving in the...

    Synonyms: truck

    Hypernyms: motor vehicle vehicle

    Coordinate Terms: car automobile van bus motorcoach coach

  2. A truck with an open carriage, sometimes used for transporting construction workers.
  3. A barrow or truck for shifting baggage, as at railway stations.
  4. A small cart or wagon used on the tramways in mines to carry coal or rubbish.
    • The mixing 48-in. belts lie flat and run from the bottom of the mixer bins to two coal mixers which deliver the coal to a reversing 42-in. belt conveyor, taking it to either one of two 36-in. belts, running to the top...
    • [page 4] [T]he larry had been filled to overflowing. When the controller was moved to the third point there was a jarring of the larry, which shook off more of the fine coal and created a dust cloud that enveloped the...
    • Having had a precursor in the tracks ground into Roman roads (with a width similar to modern standard gauge, 1435 mm or 4ft 8.5in), Europe only saw the return of track systems in the early modern age, in the shape of...
  5. A large, low, horse-drawn, four-wheeled cart without sides; also, a similar wagon modified for use on railways.
    • In order that these very important mails might not be unnecessarily delayed, we procured an express engine, and having, as is customary in such cases, fastened those for Manchester and the North on a larry between the...
    • Platelayers, or others, who may have hand lorries or waggons on the line without engines, are strictly charged never to have the same on the line so as to be in the way of a coming train, except for some indispensable...
    • For the services of horses and conveyances as may be required at either camp, at a charge per diem to be stated in tender, specifying single horse carts and four horse lorries. - 1887 March 14, John F. Hartigan,...

    Synonyms: dray

Origin

Uncertain; perhaps from dialectal English lurry (“to lug or pull about, drag”) (compare dialectal lurry-cart), or from the forename Laurie. First attested in early to middle 19th century.

Forms

lorries larry lorrie

Hypernyms

vehicle

Related

lowry lurry

Derived

articulated lorry bin lorry breakdown lorry fall off the back of a lorry flatbed lorry lorry driver lorryful lorryless lorryload lorryman skip lorry steam lorry tipper lorry

Verb

  1. To transport by, or as if by, lorry.
    • He lorried away with a whole pile of things, and cheated the bailiffs. - 1869 December 18, T. T. W., “Lurry”, in Notes and Queries: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, General Readers, etc., volume IV (4th...
    • The midday meal at 1230hrs for 'C' and 'D' Companies would be followed by them parading at the camp gates for lorrying to Hazebrouck. - 2002, Norman Brooke, chapter 7, in Half-pint Heroes: The Bantams of World War One,...
    • [S]he had bought three jars of baby food, for convenience, and was busy lorrying them into me when I unintentionally spurted a huge mouthful all over her magnificent blouse and skirt. - 2011, Penelope Pansy, “Time Goes...

Forms

lorries lorrying lorried larry lorrie

Derived

lorried lorrying