Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Australia, New Zealand A small vehicle based on the same platform as a family car but with a unibody construction and a built-in open tray area for carrying goods; similar but not identical to a pick-up truck.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Contraction of utility.

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Examples

  • Turnbull admitted Rudd now had no need to answer claims that he helped a car dealer friend who lent him a utility vehicle - or "ute" - for use in his constituency.

    News24 Top Stories 2009

  • The man's body is still inside the ute, which is stopped in the middle of Castle St and covered in a green tarpaulin.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

  • The man's body is still inside the ute, which is stopped in the middle of Castle St and covered in a green tarpaulin.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

  • The survey also found that 37.3 per cent believe vehicles are not gender specific, 27.1 per cent said a ute was a great all-purpose vehicle that can suit women too, and 14.1 per cent saying work-roles were no longer gender specific.

    Car Advice | News | Reviews 2010

  • Australian media have dubbed the affair "Utegate", as the dealer in question, John Grant, had lent Mr Rudd a "ute" - a two-seater pick-up truck - for use in his constituency.

    Radio New Zealand News Headlines 2009

  • In Australia and New Zealand a small $17.99 per driver month guarantee* vehicle with an open back is called a ute (short for "utility vehicle") or a pick-up and the word "truck" is re - served for larger vehicles.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2008

  • + 'The County of El Paso' [ 'ute'] {[]} 'The County of King County' [ 'macaw'] + 'The State of Colorado' {[]} 'The State of Washington'

    united states of america constitutional signaturee gate admin 2009

  • + 'The County of El Paso' [ 'ute'] {[]} 'The County of King County' [ 'macaw'] + 'The State of Colorado' {[]} 'The State of Washington'

    Archive 2009-12-01 admin 2009

  • I know one couple with a commuter bike each and a "ute" they share (although they are reasonably close in size)

    tingilinde: 2010

  • Even better, as an Autoblog reader suggested, they should have brought in a Corvette-engined Holden "ute" from Down Under and rebadged it as a Chevy - though Pontiac's GTO experience probably means that'll never happen.

    Daimnation!: The El Camino lives! 2005

  • Along with the awkward singles, the free-flowing beer and the backfiring pickup trucks known as utes, turned on and off to create fiery explosions called key bangs, there are people who connected at balls and come back to socialize.

    First Comes Snapchat, Then the Bachelor and Spinster Ball By 2019

Comments

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  • It frustrates me no end that the official Scrabble dictionary doesn't recognise "ute".

    November 6, 2008

  • If you play with Australians, they'll surely allow it.

    November 6, 2008

  • I play with or via machines. :(

    November 6, 2008

  • As in, "I really like Ute Lemper".

    November 6, 2008

  • No, nothing so glamorous. A ute is a utility truck, shortened in the characteristic Australian way.

    As in, "My sister is going to get a ute, so that when her kids are old enough to drive they'll always want to borrow their dad's car!"

    November 8, 2008

  • Clearly your sister is not from the country, frin. Country teenagers love a ute.

    November 8, 2008

  • Ute

    I used to open the door of my father’s ute by heaving my body against it. It usually took a few tries because the door was heavy and the handle more often stuck than willing. Seats were cracked by the sun, mended with vinyl tape. Wheezy AM radio would play gospel songs and ELO over the

    airwaves. Tray was used to haul oddboxes full of gold leaf, baby-food jars of paint thinner, blistered tins of odd screws, pliers, brushes, hammers, ladders and rags. Heater was slow if it worked at all and the cab was too hot in summer - we rolled down the windows and threw watermelon rinds at mileposts - and buff cold in the wintertime. A mixture of oil, grease, paint, empty coffee cups and ideas scratched into my subconcious. The smell still lurks in the stuffed cupboards of memory. Seats sat high so it was easy to look into other cars, over bridges and fences, impatiently down

    roads ahead, and into self, and wonder things like what would Jesus look like if you painted him inside out? Would playground swings take flight if they weren't chained down? When the hell are we going to get there? If we go to Launching Place not Cockatoo, does Cockatoo still exist?

    Uncaged heart. Folded cardboard wings. Ancestors' wishbones. Gravestones housing

    life. The first time for everything. Thirst. Church-keys. Thistles. The deformity of

    love. Currawongs and picnic-raiding kookaburras. Steel. Doo-houses. Railway

    tracks unused and sprouting capeweed. Muddy creeks and tadpoles. Incandescent

    feet. 45 spinning songs idolised. Want. Want more. Cardboard warped by mildew.

    Lust letters scratched in a tree trunk. Mechanics with hands that smell of engine

    grease or just-washed-off engine grease. Handcrafted loneliness. Standing. Enamel tubs.

    Mountains of fire and silence. Mountain-ash art made by decay and wombats.

    Witness. Sunrise for the impatient. Old house itching with rot and children. Bellbird,

    unseen. A new road. Beside it a ute posed mid-rollover, axel accusing the heavens.

    April 29, 2012

  • If it’s a coupe with cargo extension,

    The distinction is not worth a mention.

    It’s a conventional mix-up

    That we call a pickup.

    A ute’s just a truck with pretensions.

    December 11, 2014