motorcycle

Definition

An open-seated motor vehicle with handlebars instead of a steering wheel, and having two (or sometimes three) wheels.

Etymology

From motor + cycle, from the Motorcyclette produced in 1897 by the French Werner Frères et Cie.

Example Sentences

• "Her big mission is to recover the precious Blue Star (a glowing rock in a box), which leads to a Western shoot-out, a space-age motorcycle gang, and an unamusing Darth Vader-esque villain."
• "That last problem did intrude on Hazzard’s roamings, and when she refers to the living city it is with periodic references to thefts of cars and wallets, with a warning not to carry anything “snatchable” by the thieves on motorcycles who whiz through the streets. Her husband, Francis Steegmuller, the critic, translator and biographer who died in 1994, had a bag snatched, and while he lost only a guidebook, he was badly injured as he held on to it and was dragged behind the attacking motorcycle."
• "Vern rubbed her hands along the motorcycles, admiring their size and power, their silver and black sleekness."

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