"The car moved up and down", seems too simple. Maybe "sway", but it seems soft to me.
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2There’s always the old bumper sticker: ”If you see this car/van arockin’ don’t come aknockin’”– JimCommented Mar 31, 2021 at 15:49
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1Which aspect is more important? The fact that it's a car? (Maybe a small car containing a fat guy jiggling around listening to loud rock music.) Or the fact that people are making out in it? (In which case it could just as well be a creaky bed / mattress, not a car.)– FumbleFingersCommented Mar 31, 2021 at 16:32
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"WHEN police were called to a traffic jam in a remote area, they saw drivers gawking at a car rocking with a naked couple having sex inside." - New York Daily News– Michael HarveyCommented Mar 31, 2021 at 17:21
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1Do you mean having sex, because kissing (even if deep and passionate) will not typically move a car much: that requires significant back-and-forth motion.– Stuart FCommented Mar 31, 2021 at 21:59
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2 Answers
A slightly quirky term for a car rocking up and down is jounce. Oxford English Dictionary, with two vehicle-appropriate examples:
- intransitive. To move violently up and down, to fall heavily against something; to bump, bounce, jolt; to go along with a heavy jolting pace.
1967 C. O. Skinner Madame Sarah (new ed.) viii. 171 The train..swayed, rocked, jounced and hustled a couple of passengers from their seats.
1971 D. E. Westlake I gave at Office (1972) 55 The two trucks jouncing off along the narrow dirt road through the swamp
Jouncing is rough. Often, jouncing is caused by the motion of the vehicle against rougher roads, as the second half of the definition ("to go along...") and most examples show.
Aggie gave a nod and watched the moped jounce down the country road toward town. (Connie Spittler, The Erotica Book Club for Nice Ladies, 2015)
However, motion within the car can also cause it to jounce:
He moaned again and tried to move. "Jane?" The car jounced with his movement and Jane felt her heart turn over with fear. (Amber Dean, Deadly Contact, 1963)
answered Mar 31, 2021 at 18:58
"Undulate" is a possibility; unlike "sway", it means up and down (OALD, 1).
undulate [intransitive] (formal) to go or move gently up and down like waves
♦ The countryside undulates pleasantly.
(ref. 1 "movement up and down or from side to side") Chryssa's naked body undulated as the whip came down on her skin, leaving hot red welts upon her back, and it seemed to me as if Iullus was watching with more than morbid fascination
(ref. 2 "movement up and down or from side to side") Falling into the rhythm he set, her body undulated with each strong thrust. The tension inside her built again, faster and faster as he increased the tempo. Knowing she was close to climaxing, she encouraged him with hot, erotic words
For a less gentle motion there is "heave".
heave [intransitive] to rise up and down with strong, regular movements
♦ The boat heaved beneath them.
There is also the verb "to bob".
(bob) [intransitive, transitive] to move or make something move quickly up and down, especially in water
♦ an old cigarette packet bobbing along in the current
bob up and down
♦ Tiny boats bobbed up and down in the harbour.
Apparently, despite the dictionary's definition, you can use "up and down" with these verbs. (ngram 1, ngram 2).
- The car undulated up and down.
- The car heaved up and down.
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1Yes, and that's implicit in the second meaning of the word. Commented Mar 31, 2021 at 17:42
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1I also don't think undulate fits. I think of that as a swaying that progresses along something. A dancer doing the "inchworm" undulates.– BarmarCommented Mar 31, 2021 at 21:03