Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US, also gas buggy) a car.

1901		Brooklyn Dly Eagle (NY) 21 Apr. 22/7: The stage lines [...] are beginning already to tremble, but after they see the gas buggies [...] they will want go out of business.
1938		E. Freeman ‘The Whirling Hub’ in Afro-American 6 Aug. 18/2: I will certainly take out the old gas buggy and take another vacation.
1938		W. Winchell On Broadway 11 May [synd. col.] Gasbuggy fumes, intrigue and bock beer drifting across the table tops.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 123: This old buggy ought to take off and coast home.
1947–53		W. Guthrie Seeds of Man (1995) 362: I just got back from hauling a double load of furs up to Fort Davis in the gasbuggy.
1953		J. Thompson Criminal (1993) 14: What do you think of the new buggy?
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 792: buggy – An automobile.

2. attrib. use of sense 1; thus buggy bandit n., a car thief or one who uses a getaway car after a robbery.

1927		H. Yenne ‘Prison Lingo’ in AS II:6 280: ‘Buggy bandits’ or ‘joy-riders’ (automobile thieves).
1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 3: You’re goin’ for a buggy ride, redhead.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 39: buggy bandit.–An automobile thief, or one who uses an automobile to ensure a getaway after a robbery.
1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 120: No matter how many they yanked us in and out of this buggy palace, Dave and I always managed to keep being paired together.

3. (US) a wheelbarrow.

1911		J. Lomax Cowboy Songs 25: His old ‘buggy’ in the corner.
1934		Weseen Dict. Amer. Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).