high-occupancy vehicle

noun

plural high-occupancy vehicles

: a vehicle that carries a required minimum number of occupants

That segment of freeway will soon be renovated to allow more carpools once crews convert a general traffic lane into a toll lane for high-occupancy vehicles.

—Rachel Swan

Lanes restricted to high-occupancy vehicles aid traffic flow.

—Sunset Magazine

—often used before another noun

a high-occupancy vehicle lane

… police checkpoints set up in many places to enforce the high-occupancy vehicle rule …

—Matt Flegenheimer and John Leland

—abbreviation HOV

Word History

First Known Use

1969, in the meaning defined above