motorbike

See also: motor-bike

English

Etymology

From motor +‎ bike.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊtə(ɹ)ˌbaɪk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊtɚˌbaɪk/, [ˈmoʊɾɚˌbaɪk]

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

motorbike (plural motorbikes)

1. (informal) A motorcycle.
   • 1980, Montana Outdoors - Volume 11, page 8:

     Driving fuel-efficient vehicles and using motorbikes when possible to replace or supplement vehicles are two of the ways Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks employees are attempting to become less fuelish and to lower transportation costs.

   • 2009, Charley Boorman, “Betel Nuts and Beauties”, in Jeff Gulvin, editor, Right to the Edge : Sydney to Tokyo By Any Means‎^[1], published 2011, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 260:

     Jumping on the Metro and then a local train, we headed out to National Central University at Jhongli, where I had been invited to take a look at a motorbike powered by compressed air.

2. (US) A small and light motorcycle.

Derived terms

• e-motorbike
• litrebike
• motorbiker
• motorbike sport

Descendants

• → Norman: motor-bike f, motorbike f

Translations

motorcycle

• Polish: motocykl (pl) m, motor (pl) m

Verb

motorbike (third-person singular simple present motorbikes, present participle motorbiking, simple past and past participle motorbiked)

1. To ride a motorbike; to travel by motorbike.

   We motorbiked all over the US that summer.

   • 2024 June 16, Senay Boztas, “‘The brain is very vulnerable’: Dutch cyclists urged to wear helmets as road deaths rise”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Bart Groothuijze, who runs the Castodian foundation promoting safer motorbiking, blames a misplaced sense of freedom and vanity.

Translations

to ride or travel by a motorbike

• Dutch: motorrijden (nl)
• Finnish: moottoripyöräillä
• French: rouler en moto, faire de la moto
• Polish: jeździć na motocyklu impf

Norman

Noun

motorbike f (plural motorbikes)

1. alternative form of motor-bike