Advertisement

Origin and history of motorcycle

motorcycle(n.)

"a large bicycle propelled by a small motor," 1895, a hybrid from motor + -cycle, from bicycle. Motocycle also was used late 19c.

The horse follows the crooks of a country road, but then the training of the "motorcycle" (horrid name) will inevitably straighten out the crooks in the country road, and afford long ranges of straight tracks. [Payson Burleigh, "The Age of Steel," Oct. 12, 1895]

Related: Motorcyclist.

also from 1895

Entries linking to motorcycle

bicycle(n.)

1868, from bi- "two" + a Latinized form of Greek kyklos "circle, wheel" (see cycle (n.)), on the pattern of tricycle; both the word and the vehicle superseding earlier velocipede.

The English word is said in some dictionaries to be probably not from French, but the 1868 citations are in a French context:

The velocipedes, about which the Parisians have run mad at the present moment, are of various kinds. ... The two wheel velocipedes, the bicycles as they are styled, are intended for the male sex only, and are by far the swiftest machines. ["Supplement to the Courant," Hartford, Conn., Dec. 16, 1868].

Pierre Lallement, employee of a French carriage works, improved Macmillan's 1839 pedal velocipede in 1865 and took the invention to America. See also pennyfarthing. As a verb, from 1869.

The velocipede of 1869 was worked by treadles operating cranks on the axle oi the front wheel. This was modified in the earliest form of the bicycle by greatly increasing the relative size of the driving-wheel and bringing the rider directly over it. Later the "safety" bicycle was introduced, in which the wheels were made of equal or nearly equal size, and for the direct action upon the front wheel was substituted indirect action upon the rear wheel, by means of a chain and sprocket-wheels .... [Century Dictionary]
motor(n.)

"one who or that which imparts motion," mid-15c., "controller, prime mover (in reference to God);" from Late Latin motor, literally "mover," agent noun from past-participle stem of Latin movere "to move" (from PIE root *meue- "to push away"). Sense of "agent or force that produces mechanical motion" is first recorded 1660s; that of "machine that supplies motive power" is from 1856. Motor-home is by 1966. Motor-scooter is from 1919. First record of slang motor-mouth "fast-talking person" is from 1970.

motocross

also moto-cross, "cross-country motorcycle racing," by 1956, from motorcycle + cross-country.

    Advertisement

    More to explore

    cycle
    late 14c., cicle, "perpetual circulating period of time, on the completion of which certain phenomena return in the same order," especially and originally in reference to astronomical phenomena, from Old French cicle and directly from Late Latin cyclus, from Greek kyklos "circle,
    Harley
    As a type of motorcycle, by 1968, short for Harley-Davidson, the motorcycle manufacturer founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,...
    peel
    Peel out "speed away from a place in a car, on a motorcycle, etc.," is hot-rodders' slang, attested by 1952, perhaps from...
    dire
    "causing or attended by great fear, dreadful, awful," 1560s, from Latin dirus "fearful, awful, boding ill," a religious term, which is of unknown origin. Apparently a dialect word in Latin; perhaps from Oscan and Umbrian and perhaps cognate with Greek deinos "terrible," Sanskrit
    ride
    Middle English riden, from Old English ridan "sit or be carried on" (as on horseback), "move forward; rock; float, sail" (class I strong verb; past tense rad, past participle riden), from Proto-Germanic *ridan (source also of Old Norse riða, Old Saxon ridan, Old Frisian rida "to
    blue
    "of the color of the clear sky," c. 1300, bleu, blwe, etc., "sky-colored," also "livid, lead-colored," from Old French blo, bleu "pale, pallid, wan, light-colored; blond; discolored; blue, blue-gray," from Frankish *blao or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *blæwaz
    butterfly
    common name of any lepidopterous insect active in daylight, Old English buttorfleoge, evidently butter (n.) + fly (n.), but the name is of obscure signification. Perhaps based on the old notion that the insects (or, according to Grimm, witches disguised as butterflies) consume bu
    mealy-mouthed
    "afraid to say what one really thinks," 1570s; first element perhaps from Old English milisc "sweet," from Proto-Germanic *meduz "honey" (see mead (n.1)), which suits the sense, but if the Old English word did not survive long enough to be the source of this, perhaps the first el
    innocent
    mid-14c., "doing no evil; free from sin, guilt, or moral wrong," from Old French inocent "harmless; not guilty; pure" (12c.), from Latin innocentem (nominative innocens) "not guilty, blameless; harmless; disinterested," from in- "not" (see in- (1)) + nocentem (nominative nocens),
    pyramid
    1550s "massive monumental stone structure of polygonl plan, the sides of which slope in planes to a common apex," also a geometrical solid resembling this, (earlier in Latin form piramis, late 14c., or nativized in Middle English as piram), from French pyramide (Old French pirami

    Share motorcycle

    Advertisement
    Trending
    Dictionary entries near motorcycle
    Advertisement