Dodgemn.
/ˈdɒdʒəm/ Esp. in plural, a fairground amusement consisting of a number of small electrically-powered cars steered about in an enclosure. Also attributive, as dodgem car.
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society > leisure > entertainment > place of amusement or entertainment > fairground or amusement park > [noun] > fairground ride > dodgems
Dodgem1921
1921 Sci. Amer. 15 Oct. 269/1 A device known as the ‘Dodge-Em’ is a clever piece of..work. Small cars, fitted with steering wheels, are placed on a polished..floor. A trolley connects each little car with an electrically charged mesh..overhead... The steering is only relative and it requires extreme ability to dodge the other fellow's car.
1937 Night & Day 23 Sept. 27 The big outfits—the Giant Racers, Over the Falls, the Helter-Skelter, the Dodge 'Ems.
1945 Archit. Rev. 97 53 The sparks flying from the Dodgems.
1947 ‘N. Shute’ Chequer Board x. 278 Among the hurly-burly of his swings and roundabouts and flip-flops and dodgem cars.
1952 N. Coward Relative Values i. ii. 28 What on earth's a Dodgem?.. One of those little motor cars you go on in Margate and bang into everybody.
1968 D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. i. 20 The transport revolution has been reflected in a succession of devices from..‘Dodg'em Cars’..to present day ‘Space-Cruisers’ and ‘Hurricane Jets’.
1968 D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. vi. 103 ‘Dodg'ems’ have been the most consistently popular ride on the fairground.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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n.1921