old banger
A British slang term for a car that is old, dilapidated, and unreliable — the kind that rattles, backfires, and is held together more by luck than engineering.
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A British slang term for a car that is old, dilapidated, and unreliable — the kind that rattles, backfires, and is held together more by luck than engineering. Typically used affectionately or with resigned humor about a vehicle that has clearly seen better days. 'Banger' on its own is widely used to mean the same thing, while 'old banger' adds emphasis on the vehicle's age. The term is common in everyday British speech and frequently appears in discussions of student cars, first cars, and bargain vehicles.
He turned up to the school reunion in the same old banger he'd driven at university — rusted wing mirrors and all.
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(UK, slang) A decrepit car.
“Great pick Claire-Louise Definitely an old BANGER #DJAC”
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
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Semantically related
- banger race70%
(chiefly, _, UK) A motorsport event in which cars race around a track while trying to damage one another.
- banger racing69%
(chiefly, _, UK) The act of participating in a banger race ("a motorsport event in which cars race around a track while trying to damage one another").
- banger67%
A thing or person which bangs, in any sense.
- bent car64%
British slang for a stolen car — one that's been nicked, hot-wired, or otherwise obtained through decidedly dodgy means. The word 'bent' in UK slang broadly means corrupt, dishonest, or illegal, so a bent car is just any vehicle that fell off the right side of the law. Used in crime dramas, police speak, and casual street slang. If someone offers you a suspiciously cheap motor with no paperwork, there's a good chance you're looking at a bent car.