A quad bike is a four-wheeled off-road machine you sit astride. Ride a quad bike.
It is far less stable than it looks, since the weight is high and there is no differential. A quad bike is one of the commonest causes of serious injury on British farms.
1nounquad bikeA four-wheeled off-road machine you sit astride.
“The quad bike was used every day on that hill farm.”
quad bike is a vehicle.
Quad plus bike, from having four wheels but being ridden like a motorcycle.
Built from
From quad + bike. From being a four-wheeled vehicle (a quadricycle) that is ridden astride like a motorcycle, the term carries an inherent contradiction, since “quad” denotes four, while “bike” implies two. This etymological inconsistency is largely overlooked in everyday usage, as such contradictions are often absorbed and normalized by idiom.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Vehicles & Machines