Rolls-Royce

The original company was established in 1904 by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce.

Rolls-Royce

1. Any of several British companies that make motor cars, aero engines, etc.

• (Rolls-Royce maker of aero engines): R-R / R.-R. / RR / R.R. / R. R. (abbreviation)

Rolls-Royce (plural Rolls-Royces)

1. A car made by this manufacturer.

   Synonyms: Rolls, Roller, (initialism) R-R

   • 1968, Rumer Godden, “L’Élégance”, in Swans & Turtles: Stories, London; Toronto, Ont.; Melbourne, Vic.: Macmillan, →OCLC, page 159:

     ‘What is the most expensive car?’ she had once asked Stan. ‘A cad – Cadillac or a Rolls,’ Stan had said, and sometimes Raoul had a Cadillac, sometimes a Rolls-Royce.

   • 1994, Hamilton Crane [pseudonym; Sarah J. Mason], chapter 32, in Miss Seeton Undercover (Miss Seeton; 17), New York, N.Y.: Berkley Prime Crime, →ISBN, page 256:

     And she pondered the first of Miss Seeton’s sketches, the one Delphick had been coerced into showing her: the sleek cat reflected in the mirror, with the ram—the ram from the wrong, confusing case—beneath it on the bonnet of the Rolls-Royce in which Ferencz Szabo, of the Stentorian voice, rode so proudly.

2. (chiefly British, informal) Anything that is the best of its type; the best quality product possible.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:best

   the Rolls-Royce of chocolate

   • 2013, Floyd Norman, Animated Life:

     But for an aspiring animation cartoonist, getting a job at Walt Disney was like hitting the major leagues—the Rolls Royce of animation. Now here we were walking down Dopey Drive and making a right at Mickey Avenue.

• Rolls Royce