1961, abbreviation of mini-car, a small car made by British Leyland (formerly British Motor Corp.). As an abbreviation of miniskirt, it is attested from 1966.
"ancient two-wheeled vehicle used in war, racing, and private life," mid-14c., from Old French charriot "wagon" (13c.), augmentative of char "car," from Late Latin carrum "chariot" (see car).
public park and promenade in Madrid, 1640s, Spanish, from Latin pratum "meadow" (see prairie). Compare Prater, name of a large park in Vienna, German, from Italian prato "meadow." French preau "little meadow" (formerly praël), Italian pratello are from Vulgar Latin *pratellum, diminutive of pratum.
c. 1600, "game park," from Latin vivarium "enclosure for live game, park, warren, preserve, fish pond," noun use of neuter singular of vivarius "pertaining to living creatures," from vivus "alive, living" (from PIE root *gwei- "to live"). Meaning "glass bowl for studying living creatures" is from 1853.
sleeping car on a passenger train, 1867, Pullman car, in recognition of U.S. inventor George M. Pullman (1831-1897) of Chicago, who designed a railroad car with folding berths.
The Pullman Sleeping Car.—"The Western World." This splendid specimen of car architecture, being one of a number of sleeping-cars to be completed for the Michigan Central road, by Mr. Pullman, has created a great sensation among railway circles east. ... The car itself is admitted by all who have seen it to be, in the matter of sleeping and cooking accessories, and superb finish, the ne plus ultra of perfection. Nothing before has been seen to equal, much less surpass it. [Western Railroad Gazette, Chicago, quoted in Appleton's Illustrated Railway and Steam Navigation Guide, New York, June, 1867]
also ball-park, "baseball stadium," 1893, short for baseball (or football) park; see ball (n.1) + park (n.).
To be in the ballpark in the figurative sense of "within an acceptable range of approximation" is first recorded 1954, originally in the jargon of atomic weapons scientists, perhaps referring to the area within which a missile was expected to return to earth; the idea is broad but reasonably predictable dimensions. Hence ballpark (adj.) "approximate" (1967), of figures, etc.
The result, according to the author's estimate, is a stockpile equivalent to one billion tons of TNT. Assuming this estimate is "in the ball park," clearly there is valid reason for urging candor on the part of our government. [Ralph E. Lapp, "Atomic Candor," in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, October 1954]
"that which takes precedence, that which necessarily goes before," noun use of Latin neuter of prior (adj.) "former, earlier" (see prior (adj.)). The hybrid car (with a capital P- ) debuted in 1997 in Japan, 2001 in U.S. and Europe. The name supposedly was chosen because the car was regarded as a predecessor of new types. The classically proper plural of the car name is said to be Priora, but that is for the adjective.
1759, "a journey on the back of a horse or in a vehicle," from ride (v.).
By 1815 as "a turn or spell of riding." By 1787 as "a saddle horse;" slang meaning "a motor vehicle" is recorded from 1930. The sense of "amusement park device" is from 1934.
The noun in the venery sense is from 1937. To take (someone) for a ride "tease, mislead, cheat," is first attested 1925, American English, possibly from underworld sense of "take on a car trip with intent to kill" (1927). Phrase go along for the ride in the figurative sense "join in passively" is from 1956.
A ride cymbal (1956) is used by jazz drummers for keeping up continuous rhythm, as opposed to a crash cymbal (ride as "rhythm" in jazz slang is recorded from 1936).
late Old English, "the garden of Eden," from Old French paradis "paradise, garden of Eden" (11c.), from Late Latin paradisus "a park, an orchard; the garden of Eden, the abode of the blessed," from Greek paradeisos "a park; paradise, the garden of Eden," from an Iranian source similar to Avestan pairidaeza "enclosure, park" (Modern Persian and Arabic firdaus "garden, paradise"), a compound of pairi- "around" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, near, against, around") + diz "to make, to form (a wall)." The first element is cognate with Greek peri "around, about" (see per), the second is from PIE root *dheigh- "to form, build."
The Greek word was used by Xenophon and others for an orchard or royal hunting park in Persia, and it was taken in Septuagint to mean "the garden of Eden," and in New Testament translations of Luke xxiii.43 to mean "the Christian heaven, place where the souls of the righteous departed await resurrection" (a sense attested in English from c. 1200; extended from c. 1400 to the Muslim heaven). Meaning "place of extreme beauty, blissful state like or comparable to Paradise" is from c. 1300. The Gates of Paradise originally meant "the Virgin Mary" (late 14c.)
