runabout

Deverbal from run about.

runabout (plural runabouts)

1. Any of several small vehicles, especially a small motor car for use on short journeys.
   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 2, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎^[1]:

     The door being open, Stranleigh walked in unannounced. A two-seated runabout […] stood by the window, where it could be viewed by passers-by. Further down the room rested a chassis, […]

2. (dated) A motor car having a single row of seats.
3. (historical) A light, open, American horse-drawn vehicle with four large wheels.
4. (archaic) A gadabout or vagabond.
5. (science fiction) A small, relatively maneuverable spacecraft or shuttlecraft.

• IPA^(key): /ʁœ.na.bawt/

runabout m (plural runabouts)

1. runabout (motor vehicle)

• “runabout”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Unadapted borrowing from English runabout

• IPA^(key): /ranaˈbaut/ [ra.naˈβ̞au̯t̪]
• IPA^(key): /ronaˈbaut/ [ro.naˈβ̞au̯t̪]
• Rhymes: -aut
• Syllabification: ru‧na‧bout

runabout m (plural runabouts)

1. runabout (motor vehicle)

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.