gypsy truck

English

Noun

gypsy truck (plural gypsy trucks)

1. (colloquial, US, sometimes offensive) A freelance truck.
   • 1950, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Interstate and Foerign Commerce, Study of Domestic Land and Water Transportation:

     So he takes the profit, which is the difference between the regulated transportation and the rate he has been able to pay to that gypsy truck.

   • 1954, Investigation of Racketeering in the Cleveland, Ohio, Area, page 212:

     At a private dock not long ago a “gypsy” truck from Maryland had come in with 60 barrels of pickles—a 20-minute job to roll out on the platform.

   • 1977, The International Teamster - Volumes 74-75, page 20:

     It is usually the gypsy truck piloted by a non-union driver who races the roads in a desperate effort to make a connection ahead of the competition.

Usage notes

Because it derives from a racist stereotype of the Romani, and uses the problematic exonymic term Gypsy, this term may be offensive to the Romani. See the usage note about Gypsy.