pedal, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

pedal n.

1. (US) a foot.

1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 56: Hash swung his left pedal flush under the prosecutor’s masticator.
1911		B. Fisher Mutt & Jeff 21 Dec. [synd. cartoon] His starboard shoe on his rear pedal is loose.
1914		Hoban Jerry on the Job 27 Mar. [synd. cartoon strip] [comment by pic. of feet] Very heavy in the pedals.

get the pedal (v.)

to be dismissed from a job.

1937

R. Westerby Wide Boys Never Work (1938) 45: It’s you that ought to get the pedal, not me.

put the pedal to the metal (v.) (also give pedal, have the pedal to the floor, push the pedal to the metal)

1. (orig. US) to accelerate an automobile; thus pedal to the metal adj./adv., very fast.

1976		Lieberman & Rhodes Complete CB Handbk 328: Put the pedal to the metal and have yourself a ball ’cause in the northbound lane we haven’t seen nothing at all.
1984		Run DMC ‘Hollis Crew’ 🎵 Just put your mind to it, you’ll go real far / Like a pedal to the metal when you’re drivin a car.
1992		R. Marcinko Rogue Warrior (1993) 191: I screamed for the pilot to put the pedal to the metal.
1993		(con. 1969) N.L. Russell Suicide Charlie 105: The driver would put the pedal to the metal and blow on through while the guard held the gate open.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 68: I push the pedal to the metal an’ swerve round her.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 115: We’re moving fast [...] Pedal to the metal, taking the curves on two wheels.
2000		B. Wiprud Sleep with the Fishes 55: Weekenders felt they were on the home stretch and could put the pedal to the metal.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] I pushed the pedal to the metal and gunned it.
2011		C. Faust Choke Hold [ebook] I kept the pedal to the metal for another five or ten minutes.
2017		T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] Jay gave it pedal and the big engine ate up road.
2023		F. Bill Back to the Dirt 112: Nathaniel had the pedal to the floor [...] and the Dually roared down the back road.

2. in fig. uses, implying energy; also as adj./adv as above.

2001		‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 269: Instinct told me to drive Brandi fast and hard. I put the pedal to the metal and went all out.
2006		Luca Turin Secret of Scent 65: Allyl amyl glycolate [...] forms the core of huge pedal-to-the-metal fragrances like Giorgio and its imitators.

pedal-pusher (n.)

(US) a cyclist, esp. a racing cyclist; thus pedal-pushing, (competitive) cycling.

1890		Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 11 Oct. 3/2: Crist had a national reputation as a crack pedal pusher.
1897		St Paul Globe (MN) 30 May 11/4: It will be an easy matter for a weary pedal-pusher to let the air out of his tire [sic].
1897		Hawaiian Gaz. (Honolulu) 22 Oct. 1/5: George martin, about whose various capabilities in the pedal-pushing line there has been so much said.
1905		Salt Lake Herald (UT) 26 Mar. 5/1: Dedicated to the Yankee band of pedal-pushing pirates.
1906		Salt Lake Herald (UT) 26 Mar. 7/1: N.C.A. Says Every Pedal-Pusher Must get out and Win on His ‘Pat’.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Aug. 16/4: ‘Machete’ casts the war-bike into the outer darkness, and he bases his arguments for its abounding uselessness on his experience in S’th Af. with a pedal-pusher corps.
1920		Eve. Public Ledger (Phila., PA) 2 June 20/2: The Americans will pit their pedal-pushing skill against the two foreigners.
1922		Eve. Public Ledger (Phila., PA) 28 May 19/8: The European pedal-pusher was clocked in eleven minutes ansd fifteen seconds flat.
2009		The Guardian 24 July blog 🌐 I went to see my first ever bikey play last week: Pedal Pusher, a Tour de France-themed tale staged in a disused office space in Central London.