Dictionary

rumble seat en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (dated) An extra passenger seat or row of seats in a carriage or automobile, typically folding away into a rear storage compartment.
   • I suspected I wouldn't care an awful lot for his companionship, so I put him and another one in the rumble seat, and with the other two in with me I found the trail back to the Parkway and turned south. 1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, Bantam, published 1992, →ISBN, pages 166–167:
   • Vito does a lot of his own felting, dealing direct with Indians who are apt to show up here at all hours with a rumble seat full of beaver hides […]. 2025, Thomas Pynchon, Shadow Ticket, Jonathan Cape, page 99:
2. (colloquial) A jump seat.

Forms

Synonyms

rumble-tumble