gull wing

noun

variants or gullwing

ˈgəl-ˌwiŋ 

or less commonly gull-wing

plural gull wings or gullwings also gull-wings

1

: a door on a car or airplane that opens upward from hinges at the top

The doors [of the Pagani Huayra sports car] are gull wings that open upwards …

—Richard Hammond

The "Pixel" [concept car] has doors reminiscent of the DeLorean's gullwings and no instruments other than the driver's iPad.

—Alistair Blair

—usually gullwing or gull-wing when used before another noun

a gull-wing coupe

gullwing doors

also : a car that features gull wings

From its shape to its fanciful … doors, the US $186,000 Mercedes SLS AMG harks back to the classic SL gull-wing of the '50s.

—Lawrence Ulrich

2

: an airplane wing slanting upward from the fuselage for a short distance and then leveling out

The latest designs for a supersonic jet with "gull wings", which would enable flights between London and New York in 3.5 hours, have just been unveiled.

—Helen Coffey

Examples of gull wing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

McLaren has previously favored dihedral doors, but these are anhedral—colloquially known as gull wings. —Jason Barlow, WIRED, 6 Oct. 2024

When a future Navigator was previewed as a concept car some years back, it was shown with a giant, birdlike gull wing door on either side, each of which folded up above the roof, exposing a giant opening that provided simultaneous access to the first two of the vehicle’s three rows. —Brett Berk, Architectural Digest, 16 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1926, in the meaning defined at sense 2