An older American informal term for a fire engine, dating from the era of horse-drawn apparatus.
An older American informal term for a fire engine, dating from the era of horse-drawn apparatus. The word evokes the clatter and urgency of 19th-century urban firefighting. Today it survives in nostalgic or colourful colloquial use, occasionally applied to modern fire trucks with a knowing nod to its age.
The kids pressed against the fence as the old firewagon rounded the corner, bells clanging.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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(archaic, slang) An early motorized vehicle for driving on land (such as an automobile, truck, or tractor), especially a car; horseless carriage.
(archaic, US, colloquial) A rapid-response vehicle, possibly a kind of ambulance, or paddy wagon.
An American term that literally refers to a horse-drawn carriage, but is far more commonly used as a figurative adjective meaning old-fashioned, outdated, or hopelessly behind the times. Calling something 'horse-and-buggy' is a colourful way of saying it belongs to a previous era — whether you're talking about a company's technology, someone's attitudes, or a bureaucratic process that hasn't been updated in decades. The phrase conjures the image of pre-automobile America and contrasts it with the modern world.
(US) A fire engine.
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(US, derogatory, obsolete) A car, seen as a source of vice or sin.