α. 1500s–1700s vehicule.
β. 1600s vehickle, 1600s– vehicle, 1900s– vayacle (English regional (Devon)).
vehiclen.
/ˈviːᵻkl/, /ˈviːhᵻkl/, U.S. /ˈviək(ə)l/, /ˈviˌhɪk(ə)l/ 1. A substance, esp. a liquid, which acts as a means for the distribution and application or action of another substance dissolved in or mixed with it.† b. figurative and in figurative contexts: a means of making the introduction or use of something easier or more acceptable. Obsolete.
a. Pharmacology. A substance, typically physiologically inactive, used to disguise, dilute, or give bulk to the active ingredients in a medicinal preparation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > [noun] > vehicle
vehicle?1541
excipient1753
?1541 R. Copland Galen's Fourth Bk. Terapeutyke sig. Hij v, in Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens Of theyr sodayne passynge as a vehicule [Fr. verhicule], with yt there is hunny it noyeth nat the vlcere.
1616 Treat. Princ. Dis. Eyes in W. Bayley Two Treat. Preserv. Eie-sight (new ed.) ii. 30 With the distilled waters of Fenel and Eyebright, with which vehicles the purgatiue vertue is carried to the eyes.
1658 W. Johnson tr. F. Würtz Surgeons Guid iii. xix. 281 Let him have of the same pill in a convenient vehicle, of four grains.
1689 G. Harvey Art of curing Dis. by Expectation v. 34 I seldom give less than half a spoonful,..diluted with a sufficient measure of a temperate Vehicle.
1733 G. Cheyne Eng. Malady ii. iv. 148 Mineral Chalybeat Waters..are the most agreeable and beneficial Vehicle for such Medicines.
1767 T. Percival Ess. Med. & Exper. iii. 74 A sufficient dose of the medicine cannot be given, on account of the heating nature of its vehicle.
1826 A. C. Hutchison Pract. Observ. Surg. (ed. 2) 169 The Doctor..exhibited to him an ounce of castor-oil, uncovered by any vehicle.
1874 H. C. Wood Treat. Therapeutics 29 They [sc. dried rose petals] are almost destitute of therapeutic virtues, but their preparations are used as elegant vehicles.
1911 Med. World June 260/1 Several druggists in Philadelphia state that syrup of glycyrrhiza is the best vehicle for strychnin.
2010 M. Boarder et al. Pharmacol. for Pharmacy & Health Sci. Students viii. 179/1 The vehicle, and the way it is applied, is almost as important as the active ingredient in the treatment of skin conditions.
ΚΠ
1665 R. Boyle Disc. ii. ii, in Occas. Refl. sig. C3 There are two main things that conduce to the sweetning of Reproofs... Both these pleasing Vehicles, if I may so call them, and Correctives of Reproofs [etc.].
1701 W. Anstruther Ess., Moral & Divine iii. 124 Whatever comes to us in a vehicle of pleasure, we greedily swallow down.
1755 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) III. 181 The invasion..I really believe was dressed up for a vehicle (as the apothecaries call it) to make us swallow the treaties.
1844 R. Wardlaw Lect. Prov. (1869) II. 102 If we have a bitter..medicine to administer, we are desirous..to convey it in a pleasant vehicle.
c. More generally: any substance which serves as a base or carrier medium for other substances added to it.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means > specific material mixed with another substance
vehiculum1594
vehicle1699
1699 J. Evelyn Acetaria 106 There ought to be one of the Dishes, in which to beat and mingle the Liquid Vehicles; and a second to receive the crude Herbs in.
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Malt-Liquor The Substance of high dry'd Malts, which retain many fiery Particles in their Contexture, and are therefore best lost in a smooth Vehicle.
1802 W. Paley Nat. Theol. xxi. 403 Water..having no taste of its own, it becomes the sincere vehicle of every other.
1829 J. Togno & E. Durand tr. H. Milne-Edwards & P. Vavasseur Man. Materia Medica xi. 409 It [sc. sub-carbonate of magnesia]..is soluble in an excess of carbonic acid, in more than 2000 [parts] of cold water, and 9000 of this vehicle when boiling.
1909 Cycl. Archit., Carpentry & Building IX. 344 Damar is a white resin… It is used to a considerable extent as a vehicle for white lead and zinc.
1979 M. J. Trlica & J. S. Singh in R. A. Perry & D. W. Goodall Arid Land Ecosystems I. ii. xxii. 537 Carbon is the vehicle by which organisms store and transfer energy by chemical binding.
1987 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 27 Mar. For most of us, rice is a vehicle for other flavors, such as the rich sauces of Asian cuisine.
2001 C. H. Walker Organic Pollutants ix. 166 Released crude oil may act as a vehicle for other lipophilic pollutants.
d. Painting. The fluid in which pigment is suspended for use; the medium or the diluent, or a mixture of both.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > equipment for painting or drawing > [noun] > paints > preparation of colours > mixing fluids, etc.
vehicle1758
megilp1768
siccative1825
medium1845
egg1854
gumption1854
extender1920
binder1922
1758 R. Dossie Handmaid to Arts II. iii. viii. 327 Laying a pigment or other colouring substance on the surface, by means of some proper vehicle that may serve for spreading it, and fixing it to the copper as a cement.
1787 Trans. Soc. Arts 5 103 The well known disadvantages that Paintings in Oil lie under, have rendered the discovery of some other Vehicle an object of attentive enquiry.
a1807 J. Opie Lect. on Painting (1809) iv. 142 Colours..little muddled by vehicles.
1883 R. Haldane Workshop Receipts 2nd Ser. 427/1 A perfect vehicle mixes readily with the pigment.
1978 Art Educ. 31 iv. 8/1 (advt.) 100% pure pigment and vehicles are scientifically measured for chemical purity and consistent colour strength.
2003 A. E. Brown Amer. Wall Stenciling 243/1 For distemper, water is the vehicle; for oil paint, a volatile thinner such as turpentine is used.
2. A material object, form, or shape in which something spiritual or abstract appears or is manifested or contained. Cf. vessel n.1 3.In early use especially with reference to the body in relation to the soul or spirit.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > soul > [noun] > body as home of
vehicle1604
vehiculum1656
1604 T. Bilson Suruey Christs Sufferings 513 The bodie, which is but the vessell, or vehicle of life.
a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) v. x. 163 The Spirituall Vehicle of the Soul,..a kind of Umbra or Aereal Mantle in which the Soul wraps her self.
1699 Bp. G. Burnet Expos. Thirty-nine Articles i. 18 God being considered as the Supreme Light, this might lead men to worship the Sun as his chief Vehicle.
1766 T. Amory Life John Buncle II. xiv. 521 My friend is..now present with his Saviour, beholding his glory, in a vehicle resembling the body of our Lord.
1784 J. Douglas Cook's Voy. Pacific II. iii. ix. 164 They speak of spirits being..not totally divested of those passions which actuated them when combined with material vehicles.
1836 I. Taylor Physical Theory of Another Life i. 18 There is a spiritual body, and another vehicle of human nature, as well as a natural body.
1859 Amer. Theol. Rev. Aug. 519 When a man is crushed by the falling of a tower..the enclosed vehicle of the soul may be irreparably ruined.
1930 Methodist Rev. May 345 The body is not only the vehicle of the spirit, but the opportunity of the spirit.
1989 W. Doniger Four Worlds in S. Snead et al. Animals in Four Worlds 8 The gods are always present in each one of their animal vehicles or avatars, wherever that animal may be.
2003 K. L. Gaca Making of Fornication iii. 75 The early Stoic position that the heart, rather than the brain, is the vehicle of human reason.
3.
a. A material means, channel, or instrument by which a substance or some property of matter (as sound or heat) is conveyed or transmitted from one point to another.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means
keyOE
toolc1000
wherewithc1230
ministerc1380
meanc1390
instrumenta1425
organ?a1425
mesne1447
moyen1449
handlec1450
hackneya1500
receipta1500
operative1526
ingine1531
appliance1555
agent1579
matter1580
mids1581
wedge1581
wherewithal1583
shoeing-horn1587
engine1589
instrumental1598
Roaring Meg1598
procurement1601
organy1605
vehicle1615
vehiculuma1617
executioner1646
facility1652
operatory1660
instrumentality1663
expedient1665
agency1684
bladea1713
mechanic1924
mechanism1924
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 80 The vmbilicall veine..is the first of all the veines,..because it is the vehicle or conueigher of blood.
1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall xvii. 120 If I thought your Lordship could..imagine that Light could be convey'd without..having (if I may so speak) a Body for its Vehicle.
1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 39 He had observ'd..Pores or little Channels in..the Wood of different Trees... Some of these little Vehicles of Communication go from the bottom upwards.
1776 C. Burney Gen. Hist. Music I. 443 Pythagoras supposed the air to be the vehicle of sound.
1861 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilization Eng. II. 499 The vapour..becomes another storehouse of heat, and a vehicle by which it is removed from the earth.
1936 N. Feather Introd. Nucl. Physics i. 3 ‘Radiation’ is the term generally applied to the vehicle by which energy is given out by matter.
1997 J. Diamond Guns, Germs & Steel vii. 119 Seedlessness provides a good example of how human selection can completely reverse the original evolved function of a wild fruit, which in nature serves as a vehicle for dispersing seeds.
2011 F. Close Infinity Puzzle xvii. 334 Bjorken and Feynman showed how protons are the vehicle for transporting swarms of fundamental partons.
b. More generally: the means, channel, or agency through which a particular physical process or phenomenon acts, a particular sense or faculty is expressed, a particular property is transmitted, etc.; a medium, a channel, a conduit.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means > a means of transmission or manifestation
vehicle1615
vehiculuma1617
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 174 Our definition of a spirit shall be this, A subtle and thinne body alwayes mooueable, engendred of blood and vapour, and the vehicle or carriage of the Faculties of the soule.
1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. A8v Æther's the vehicle of touch, smell, sight, Of taste and hearing too.
1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 117 Drink may not be only esteemed the Vehicle of aliment.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. x. ii. 12 As fa, la, la, ra, da, &c. are in Music, only as the Vehicles of Sound, and without any fixed Ideas. View more context for this quotation
1779 J. Moore View Society & Manners France (1789) I. xxvii. 221 If the water be in reality the vehicle of this disease.
1813 H. Davy Elements Agric. Chem. v. 208 Water, as it is the vehicle of the nourishment of the plant, is the substance principally given off by the leaves.
1841–8 F. Myers Catholic Thoughts II. iii. §14. 52 There is a considerable portion of all natural food..serving rather for the vehicle than for the substance of our support.
1874 W. B. Carpenter Princ. Mental Physiol. (1879) i. i. 3 That more advanced Philosophy of the present day, which regards Matter merely as the vehicle of Force.
1902 Jrnl. Legislative Council New South Wales 64 36 Water is the most natural vehicle for the distribution of bacteria, and if it is exposed to contamination, bacteria..will be found in it.
1974 M. C. Gerald Pharmacol. i. 5 Three major vehicles of therapy: prayers, surgery, and drugs.
2003 J. P. Smith et al. in J. S. Novak et al. Microbial Safety Minimally Processed Foods i. 9 Eggs are one of the most common vehicles of transmission of Salmonella spp. in baked products.
c. A means or medium for conveying or communicating ideas or impressions; a medium of expression or utterance. Frequently with for, of, or (now less commonly) to.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > expression > [noun] > means of
significationc1405
voice1604
vehiclea1652
a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) iv. ix. 115 A spiritual kind of vehicle, whereby corporeal impressions are transferrʼd to the Mind.
1677 R. Gilpin Dæmonol. Sacra ii. iii. 213 It was an old device of Satan to coyn an unintelligible gibberish as the proper vehicle of strange Enthusiasticks Doctrine, and this he artificially suits to his pretended Mysteries.
1687 J. Dryden Hind & Panther iii. 79 And alms are but the vehicles of pray'r.
1722 W. Wollaston Relig. of Nature v. 123 Words seem to be as it were bodies or vehicles to the sense or meaning.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 121. ⁋14 Allegory is perhaps one of the most pleasing vehicles of instruction.
1817 W. Hazlitt in Champion 24 Aug. 269/3 Music is not made the vehicle of poetry, but poetry of music.
1836 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece II. xii. 138 But a metrical vehicle did not so well suit Zeno's dialectic genius.
1850 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire II. xxii. 530 In the common intercourse of life Greek became a fashionable vehicle of expression.
1885 E. Clodd Myths & Dreams i. iv. 77 The myths..yielded themselves with ease as vehicles of new ideas.
1919 G. Willis Philos. of Speech iv. 63 An artificial language, such as Esperanto, can never acquire any literary value, although it may possibly provide a useful vehicle of scientific or philosophic thought.
1985 H. Carpenter Secret Gardens i. 37 A children's book can be the perfect vehicle for an adult's most personal and private concerns.
2006 New Yorker 16 Oct. 96/3 Journalism..is a perfect vehicle for theories about conspiracies by the powerful.
d. In extended use with reference to any action, process, phenomenon, etc.
ΚΠ
1692 R. L'Estrange Fables lxxiv. 74 The Gayety of a Diverting Word serves as a Vehicle to Convey the Force of the Intent, and Meaning of it.
1712 Examiner 18 Dec. It is to be hoped, that many great Names..will..Vindicate the Press from being made the common Vehicle of almost half our Modern Corruptions.
1783 E. Burke Rep. Affairs India in Wks. (1842) II. 18 Finding a great parliamentary corporation turned into a vehicle for remitting to England the private fortunes of those [etc.].
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 297 They viewed the tea as a vehicle of an unconstitutional tax.
1819 Edinb. Mag. & Literary Misc. June 565/1 Wealth, he contended, will always create an efficient vehicle for the transfer of property.
1870 R. W. Dale Week-day Serm. ii. 62 Making the very form of Christian forgiveness the vehicle of revenge.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda IV. viii. lix. 183 It is..possible to feel gratitude even where we discern a mistake that may have been injurious, the vehicle of the mistake being an affectionate intention prosecuted through a lifetime of kindly offices.
1921 Columbia Law Rev. 21 727 The utilization of the book as a teaching vehicle and its potential adoptability by a large portion of the law school world.
1979 J. K. Whittaker Caring for Troubled Children 68 The group..is seen as the primary vehicle for change, and members are responsible for helping each other resolve problems.
1993 P. M. Haas et al. Inst. for Earth (2001) iv. ix. 414 International environmental institutions..are not merely rule-making bodies. They are also vehicles for transferring skills and expertise.
2000 Anthropos 95 293/2 The praises are used..as a propaganda vehicle to reinforce the authority of the chiefs.
2015 P. M. German in B. Rider Res. Handbk. Internat. Financial Crime iv. 47 Stock markets are an excellent vehicle for laundering large sums of money in electronic form.
e. A substance employed as a material in or on which some literary or artistic work is executed; a medium. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > [noun]
stuffc1440
materialc1475
material1509
graith1513
subject matter1535
metalc1550
staple1598
tew1616
subjected matter1645
materiable1652
matter1680
ingredient1691
vehicle1837
input1893
1837 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe I. i. 73 The..extended use, of paper as the vehicle of writing instead of parchment.
1850 A. Jameson Legends Monastic Orders 441 The whole [picture] has been significantly described as a ‘parody of Divine love’. The vehicle, white marble,—its place in a Christian church,—enhance all its vileness.
1904 Acad. & Lit. 26 Mar. 352/1 The use of the glutinous vehicle of tempera is very ancient, and has many advantages.
1965 Art Educ. 18 vii. 24/1 Speed is another characteristic of today's revolutionary acrylic painting vehicle.
4. A conveyance, a form of transport.rare before 18th cent.
a. A general term for: anything by means of which people or goods may be conveyed, carried, or transported; a receptacle in which something is or may be placed in order to be moved.Always more commonly used as a specific term for forms of land transport, with wheels or runners (see sense 4b).air vehicle, land vehicle, motor vehicle, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > [noun]
passagec1300
carriagea1398
port1598
conveyancea1616
vehicle1641
conveniency1660
convenience1671
machine1687
voiture1698
transportation1853
1641 Acts Second Parl. Edinb. 1640 (Wing S1168D) 132 They transport two Boats or Yolles, as pendicles of the saids Ships and Barks, and vehicles for their use and the better accommodating of their voyage.
?1656 R. Flecknoe Relation Ten Years Trav. xx. 54 Their Fames can no more fly out of their own Territories and Dominions without obliging them, then they can voyage by Sea, or travail by Land, without some Vehicule to transport them.
1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. vii. 24 Unless the Æthereal Matter be supposed to be carried about the Sun like a Vortex or Whirlpool, as a Vehicle to convey It and the rest of the Planets.
1728 J. Morgan Hist. Barbary Epitomiz'd in Compl. Hist. Algiers I. 21 The Sun-Beams are then so fierce and scorching, that all their Water would, infallibly, be exhal'd thro' the Pores of those leathern Vehicles [sc. waterskins].
1774 J. Bryant New Syst. II. 407 It was a cup..in which Hercules passed the seas; and the same history is given of Helius, who was said to have traversed the ocean in the same vehicle.
1812 Ann. Reg., Chron. 120 The balloon descended... On a sudden, his crazy vehicle struck upon the roof of a house.
1815 Ann. Reg., Chron. 4 His three sons fatally committed themselves to this treacherous vehicle [sc. a boat], in order to shoot wild-fowl.
1841 Peter Parley's Ann. 250 The show-woman now procured a lamp; and, fixing it in a proper vehicle, gradually lowered it to the bottom of the well.
1919 Illustr. World July 655/1 Lieut.-Commander Read has..demonstrated the possibilities of the commercial flying vehicle.
1947 N.Y. Times 20 Mar. 3/1 The statement ‘there is no defense against the atomic bomb’..assumes that this bomb is being carried by a vehicle at a velocity well in the supersonic range.
1982 Nature 27 May 254/1 Vehicles carrying people, whether ships or aircraft, moving in an environment in which radar detection at long range is technically straightforward, have become exceedingly vulnerable to attack.
1996 New Scientist 17 Feb. 30/2 Myrabo has designed a new type of vehicle called a lightcraft to exploit the idea.
2012 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 27 Mar. Scientists towing a remote vehicle through the depths photographed a cluster of clams on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
b. spec. A means of conveyance or transport on land, having wheels, runners, or the like; a car, cart, truck, carriage, sledge, etc.armoured vehicle, electric vehicle, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > [noun]
chariot1594
vehiculum?1632
triumphal1633
vehicle1656
machinament1674
machine1759
rig1831
shebang1872
1656 T. Blount Glossographia Vehicle, a Cart, Wain, Wagon, or Chariot.
1680 R. Baxter Nonconformists Advocate 74 Whether he went on horse-back, or in a Chariot, or made use of any other vehicle for his more suddain passage.
1700 J. Collier Second Def. Short View Eng. Stage 56 You may take it in a Cart, or a Waggon, but..I think a Wheelbarrow may do; for the word Vehicle..will carry that sense.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 9 I saw his great Coach break to Pieces..and, by a strange Inchantment, immediately turn'd into many different Vehicles.
1749 J. Byrom Let. 14 Feb. in Private Jrnl. & Lit. Remains (1857) II. ii. 486 I went with Mr. Freke who had his vehicle there to the King's Chapel.
1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Disowned 28 The rumbling and jolting vehicle stopped at the door of a tavern in Holborn.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. x. 113 The shortest, directly fastened to the sledge runner, as a means of guiding or suddenly arresting and turning the vehicle.
1872 J. Yeats Techn. Hist. Commerce 327 The direct effects of superior means of communication have been to create a better class of vehicles.
1919 P. G. Wodehouse Their Mutual Child i. i. 11 Whereas in his native land vehicles kept to the left, in the country of his adoption they kept to the right.
1970 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. C. 19 42 When the rate of flow of vehicles is light and vehicles can overtake freely then the vehicles are approximately randomly distributed on the road.
1998 S. Guppy in H. Rubinski Journey Prize Anthology X. 3 One of the other vehicles involved in the collision, a pickup with a bulbous hood and two bales of hay on the flatdeck.
2016 Edmonton Sun (Nexis) 20 Sept. a7 Get more people to carpool and you reduce the number of vehicles on the roads.
c. A rocket, esp. in relation to its payload; (more widely) a spacecraft.Recorded earliest in space vehicle n. at space n.1 Compounds 4.launch vehicle, re-entry vehicle, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > spacecraft > rocket > [noun] > in relation to payload
vehicle1930
1930 Sci. Wonder Stories Jan. 681/2 It might be a space vehicle from a distant planet.
1948 Pacific Rockets Summer 23 Although the vehicle is approaching perihelion stern first as stages 6 and 7 are jettisoned, separation is readily effected by giving each exhausted rocket section a small impulse.
1959 Daily Tel. 13 Mar. 15/6 Black Knight is entirely a research vehicle and will never be manufactured into a weapon.
1967 Technol. Week 20 Feb. 36/1 A satellite launched into an eight-hour orbit by an Atlas-Agena vehicle.
2009 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Feb. 51/2 Deep-space vehicles going past Mars must rely on nuclear power sources, because solar energy gets too weak at long distances from the sun.
5. A play, opera, song, film, etc., which is intended or regarded as a means of displaying (the work of) a particular performer or writer to the best advantage.Originally a contextual use of sense 3d.star vehicle: see star n.1 Compounds 5.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > [noun] > a performance > other types
début1751
vehicle1785
benefit1802
showpiece1810
ticket-night1812
yatra1827
command1839
lollipopa1849
party piece1851
roadshow1874
one-night stand1878
stand1878
one-man show1879
small1886
command performance1897
ticket benefit1898
frivol1903
run-through1905
pre-production1906
riot1909
one-nighter1916
gala performance1932
improv1953
warm-up1958
workshopping1966
impro1979
1785 St. James's Chron. 8 Feb. This Opera is a Production of Mr. Dibdin; and is merely a Vehicle to his Musick.
1836 Figaro in London 5 Nov. 184/1 [The play] went very well, owing to the peculiar accomplishments of Mr. Charles Mathews, for which the whole piece was a mere vehicle.
1868 in P. Bailey Leisure & Class in Victorian Society (1978) vii. 152 A good song must be written, not for its own sake, but for that of the singer... It must simply be a vehicle.
1922 N.Y. Times 16 Oct. 20/2 Charles Ray is back on Broadway—his vehicle being ‘A Tailor Made Man’, and his stopping place for a week the Strand Theatre.
1966 Listener 27 Jan. 131/1 If at the start of his career an actor can somehow gain acceptance from the critics, it is possible for him to go on and give a series of inadequate performances in low-calibre vehicles and still emerge with reputation intact.
1981 Times 2 July 10/6 Star names and vast budgets..wedded to a limp vehicle, can destine a feature to oblivion.
2014 G. Freese Jock Mahoney vii. 93 It looked to be a perfect vehicle for Jocko. He agreed to star and be the show's associate producer.
6. Frequently with capital initial. Any one of the traditions or schools of spiritual practice in Buddhism. Chiefly in Little Vehicle (or Lesser Vehicle) (see Hinayana n.), Great Vehicle (or Greater Vehicle) (see Mahayana n.).The two major schools in Buddhism are Mahayana and Theravada (the latter sometimes accepted as synonymous with Hinayana, a term which is considered depreciative), although Vajrayana, which developed from Mahayana, is sometimes considered a third.
ΚΠ
1872 S. Johnson Oriental Relig.: India 754 Though the flame be of various lamps, the illumination is one: so with the difference of the two Vehicles... Hiouen Thsang found all the kingdoms of India agitated by the strife between the schools of the Great and Little Vehicles.
1886 W. W. Hunter Indian Empire (ed. 2) v. 147 According to the Northern or ‘Greater Vehicle’, Buddhist monks who transgress wilfully after ordination may yet recover themselves; while..the Southern or ‘Lesser Vehicle’ allowed no room for repentance.
1926 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 96/2 The leaders of the Great Vehicle urged their followers to seek to attain, not so much to Arahatship, which would involve only their own salvation, but to Bodhisatship.
1962 World Buddhism July 8/1 In order to gain Enlightenment one can avail of any of the three forms of vehicles, viz: Mahayana, the Great Vehicle of Supreme Enlightenment, and the lesser two vehicles of Pacceka Bodhi and Arahanta Bodhi.
1979 S. C. Hackett Oriental Philos. iii. 78 The Mahayana spawned a succession of other treaties embodying the special doctrines of that Vehicle.
2011 A. Kozak Everything Buddhism Bk. (ed. 2) ix. 103 There are three different vehicles, or schools, of Buddhist teachings, and virtually all sects of Buddhism fall into one of these three.
7. Literary Criticism. In a metaphor, the literal meaning of the word or words being used metaphorically, as distinct from the subject of the metaphor; the image or idea whose association with the subject constitutes the metaphor. Opposed to tenor n.1 1d.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > figure of speech > figures of meaning > [noun] > metaphor > medium for expressing it
vehicle1936
1936 I. A. Richards Philos. Rhetoric v. 96 A first step is to introduce two technical terms to assist us in distinguishing..what Dr. Johnson called the two ideas that any metaphor, at its simplest, gives us. Let me call them the tenor and the vehicle. The tenor, as I am calling it—[is] the underlying idea or principal subject which the vehicle or figure means.
1957 S. Ullmann Style in Fr. Novel vi. 214 It is an essential feature of a metaphor that there must be a certain distance between tenor and vehicle. Their similarity must be accompanied by a feeling of disparity.
1973 A. Rodway in R. Fowler Dict. Mod. Crit. Terms 112 In the phrase ‘Now is the winter of our discontent’..discontentedness is the tenor, and an aspect of winter..the vehicle.
2012 19th-cent. Lit. 67 82 The difference that characterizes the metaphor is reinforced by the fact that the categories of tenor and vehicle are actually rather malleable in this poem.
8. Business. A privately controlled company through which an individual or company conducts business operations in a particular sector, esp. investment.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > business affairs > a business or company > [noun] > other types of company
incorporation1530
acquisitor1668
private company?1711
private practice1724
public company1730
trading house1760
acquiror1789
in-company1791
public corporation1796
company1800
subsidiary company1823
proprietary company1824
stock-company1827
trust company1827
subsidiary1828
concessionaire1839
commandite1844
statutory company1847
parent company1854
mastership1868
state enterprise1886
Pty.1904
asset class1931
acquirer1950
parent1953
growth company1959
spin-off1959
non-profit1961
shell1964
not-for-profit1969
vehicle1971
spin-out1972
startup1975
greenfield1982
large-cap1982
monoline1984
small cap1984
mid-cap1988
multidomestic1989
dotcom1996
1971 Chicago Daily Defender 21 Sept. 2/3 A black who has invested his savings in a commercial or residential venture, but is not permitted..to parlay small investments into big ones by spinning them off through refinancing vehicles.
1980 Daily Tel. 3 Jan. 15/6 Yesterday..he was appointed chairman of construction company Tebbitt, which has a market value of £1·3 million. ‘It is a small start, but I needed a vehicle with a quote and Tebbitt is exactly right.’
1984 Observer 25 Nov. 30/8 He has begun to repeat the success he achieved at the pest control company with his new vehicle—Erskine House.
2001 Financial Director Feb. 48/1 AWG has already experimented a little with e-commerce and brand stretching, with a vehicle called Anglian Water Direct.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive (in sense 4).Some of the more established compounds of this type are treated separately.
ΚΠ
1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued II. ii. xxiii. 334 Such a peculiar species of insanity as Vehicle-madness must have been pointed at by every body.
1851 N.-Y. Daily Times 25 Sept. (headline) A serious vehicle accident.
1873 Daily Gaz. (Davenport, Iowa) 24 June The Ferry company has seen fit to increase the rates for vehicle ferriage by addition of a sum nearly equal to one-half the old vehicle rates.
1920 Times 16 June 16/1 In the ‘vehicle park’, as this part of the site is called, are tens of thousands of four-wheel wagons and two-wheel carts.
1956 in E. Molloy Automobile Engineer's Ref. Bk. xxx. §7 A method of increasing the proportion of payload to gross vehicle weight.
1989 Fortune (Nexis) 17 July 54 Vehicle traffic has soared.
2013 Vanity Fair Aug. 92/3 These new embassies..incorporated anti-ram walls and fences, gates, vehicle barriers, ballistic window film, and coordinated local guard forces.
b.
vehicle insurance n.
ΚΠ
1877 Birmingham Daily Post 23 Apr. 6/2 United Kingdom Horse and Vehicle Insurance, capital £50,000.
1881 Times 11 Apr. 14/4 The second section of the business is vehicle insurance.
1991 F. M. Magrabi et al. Econ. Househ. Consumption iv. 137 About three-fourths of all households had vehicle insurance in 1985.
2010 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 8 Jan. As it stands, vehicle insurance is not compulsory in New Zealand.
vehicle maintenance n.
ΚΠ
1903 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 6 Nov. 946/1 The motor vehicle question is a road question, one which if properly understood would secure economy in vehicle maintenance.
2009 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 6 May 3 The land has been used for similar purposes for roughly 30 years, [and] half of the district's vehicle maintenance is done there.
vehicle registration n. Quot. 1905 shows motor vehicle in attributive use modifying registration number rather than this compound.
ΚΠ
1905 Evening News 10 Apr. 5/4 It is recommended..that a new series of motor vehicle registration numbers should be commenced with the letters ‘L.C.’.]
1919 Fort Wayne (Indiana) News 9 Sept. 17/4 A bureau to be known as the ‘vehicle registration bureau’.
1920 Scotsman 11 Mar. 10/4 Fees paid for vehicle registration and for driving licences should go into the general road fund.
2015 K. R. Janken Wilmington Ten iii. 70 His vehicle registration..was in his briefcase, which was in the trunk of the car.
vehicle tax n.
ΚΠ
1856 S. Austral. Reg. (Adelaide) 24 Mar. 282/7 The question is, how shall this money be raised? By a land tax, a vehicle tax, or by turnpikes?
1922 Washington Post 16 Feb. 3/3 Ten million automobile owners will be taxed in six ways if two new vehicle taxes are laid by the Federal government as proposed to Congress.
2004 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 1 Oct. Motorists should keep their vehicle tax up to date in order to avoid a £1,000 fine.
vehicle theft n.
ΚΠ
1918 Piqua (Ohio) Daily Call 9 July 6/5 The latest vehicle theft was a baby cab belonging to Mrs Clarence Lambert.
1990 Law & Order May 1/1 Vehicle theft is a crime that continues to grow significantly every year.
2008 Independent 29 July 31/1 He looked like a children's entertainer who'd fallen on hard times and been reduced to vehicle theft to make ends meet.
C2. Objective, instrumental, etc. (in sense 4).
ΚΠ
1825 Times 29 Oct. The quarrels and imprecations of the carmen, coachmen, and other vehicle drivers.
1890 Daily News 10 Dec. 3/6 The National Coach and Van Trade Union, which comprised the whole of the workers in the vehicle-building trades.
1905 U.S. Patent 807,544 3/1 Each of the vehicle-actuated contacts at U and Uʹ is capable of..releasing the motor-lock.
1943 N.Y. Times 3 Jan. A major requirement of military communications equipment, especially a vehicle-borne set, is ruggedness.
1944 Roads & Road Transport (Brit. Road Federation) 52 Safety is enhanced and traffic best regulated and controlled by means of vehicle activated traffic signals.
1976 Jrnl. Wildlife Managem. 40 455/2 Radio signals initially were detected with a vehicle-mounted antenna from various points along a road.
2005 Shares 1 Dec. 14/2 Cybit sells a vehicle-tracking device linking to a control centre that monitors fuel used, hours worked and distance travelled.
C3.
vehicle mile n. a unit of traffic measurement representing a distance of one mile travelled by one vehicle.In quot. 1871 with reference to railways, but in later use usually relating to road transport.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement of length > [noun] > units of length or distance > mile > distance in miles > unit of distance travelled
train mile1846
vehicle mile1871
passenger-mile1888
seat-mile1953
1871 Engineering 20 Oct. 248/3 The comparison should be rather per vehicle-mile, or still better per ton mile.
1964 Times Rev. Industry Feb. 36/2 The statistics of vehicle-miles travelled..show that usage of light vans has, in fact, been steadily increasing faster than road transport in general.
2010 W. R. Black Sustainable Transportation i. 7 In the United States the number of fatalities per vehicle mile is dropping, but mostly as a function of increases in vehicle miles driven.
vehicle mine n. a landmine designed to destroy vehicles; an anti-vehicle mine.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > explosive device > [noun] > land-mine > anti-vehicle mine
Teller mine1941
vehicle minea1944
a1944 K. Douglas Alamein to Zem Zem (1946) xiv. 82 The verges of gaps in the road were mined with anti-personnel and vehicle mines.
1972 Times 27 Dec. 6/2 There had been almost no interference with road building, apart from the odd vehicle mine.
2007 Canberra Times (Nexis) 12 Oct. a18 The majority of Iraqi and Afghan vehicle mines are command-detonated.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
vehiclev.
/ˈviːᵻk(ə)l/, /ˈviːhᵻk(ə)l/, U.S. /ˈviəkəl/, /ˈviˌhɪkəl/ transitive. To place in a vehicle (in various senses); to convey in or by means of a vehicle. Also: to serve as a vehicle for. Chiefly in passive.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport or convey in a vehicle [verb (transitive)]
leadc900
drive1667
vehicle1680
ride1687
1680 A. Warren Apol. Disc. Humane Reason 143 Here, snatcht by Death, Clifford interr'd does lye, Whose Nobler Part is vehicl'd on high.
a1711 T. Ken Wks. (1721) I. 28 There the Babe's Soul is vehicled, said he; God must with perfect Man united be.
1733 M. Green Grotto 12 O..guard us through polemic life; From poison vehicled in praise.
1784 F. O'Gallagher Ess. First Princ. Nature: Pt. I iv. ii. 165 The essence..was vehicled into the water by its substance.
1853 A. Tripp Crests from Ocean-world 112 The ammonia of their volatile spirits falls with a peculiar pungency, when vehicled by their precise, clear, and dulcet language.
1870 Gentleman's Mag. Apr. 553 Many of his descriptions..are made piquant and striking by frequent felicities, and by the sly quaintness of thought they vehicle.
1905 C. A. Salmond Relig. Question France iii. 33 Helping to vehicle to heaven the praises of ransomed souls.
1988 F. Loriggio in F. Poyatos Lit. Anthropol. iv. xiii. 307 Some sort of classification of literary texts can be effected by grouping together those works vehicling the same mythical patterns.
2010 Mod. Lang. Rev. 105 385 It is surely..legitimate to suppose that the play vehicled a fairly orthodox Terrorist discourse.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.?1541
v.1680