winter rat

noun

An old, unattractive automobile, purchased for little money, to be driven during brutal Great Lakes winters while the owner's "good" car remains garaged and protected from corrosive road salt for the season.

Similar
beaterclunkerjunkerjalopy
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Meanings

nounwinter rat (plural winter rats)

plural winter rats

  1. UScolloquialidiomaticAn old, unattractive automobile, purchased for little money, to be driven during brutal Great Lakes winters while the owner's "good" car remains garaged and protected from corrosive road salt for the season.

    Synonyms: beater, clunker, junker, jalopy

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAn old, unattractive automobile, purchased for little money, to be driven during brutal Great Lakes winters while the owner's "good" car remains garaged and protected from corrosive road salt for the season.

Similar
beaterclunkerjunkerjalopy

Origin

Believed to have originated in or around Syracuse, New York.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

winter rat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/winter%20rat

MLA

“winter rat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/winter%20rat. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “winter rat,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/winter%20rat.

Source: winter rat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.