charabanc

English

WOTD – 9 November 2009

horse-drawn charabanc, 19th c.

motorized charabanc, 1920s

Alternative forms

• char-à-banc (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from French char-à-bancs (literally “carriage with benches”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃæ.ɹə.bæŋ(k)/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

Noun

charabanc (plural charabancs)

1. (British, historical) A horse-drawn, and then later, motorized omnibus with open sides, and often, no roof.

   Synonym: (short form) chara

   • 1931, Francis Beeding, “2/2”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps‎^[1]:

     A little further on, to the right, was a large garage, where the charabancs stood, half in and half out of the yard.

   • 1968, “Happiness Stan”, in Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, performed by Small Faces:

     And full of colored dreams / Deep inside a rainbow / Lived Happiness Stan / In a small Victorian charabanc

   • 2006 Aug 7 & 14, John Updike, “Late Works”, in The New Yorker, page 70:

     The cumbersome though finely painted charabanc of the late James style is pulled swaying along by a frisky pony of a plot farcical and romantic.

2. (British, informal, derogatory) A car, bus, train or other vehicle that is poor quality, slow or overcrowded.

Translations

a horse-drawn, and then later, motorized omnibus with open sides, and often, no roof

• Danish: charabanc c
• French: char-à-bancs (fr) m
• Norman: char à bancs m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: шараба́н (ru) m (šarabán)
• Swedish: charabang (sv) c

Verb

charabanc (third-person singular simple present charabancs, present participle charabancing, simple past and past participle charabanced)

1. (rare, transitive, intransitive) To travel or convey by charabanc.

Further reading

• charabanc on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Charabanc”, in World Wide Words.

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Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French char-à-bancs (“a carriage with benches”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sjarəbanɡ/, [ɕɑɑˈb̥ɑŋ]

Noun

charabanc c (singular definite charabancen or charabanc'en, plural indefinite charabancer or charabanc'er)

1. charabanc

Inflection

Declension of charabanc

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	charabanc	charabancen charabanc'en	charabancer charabanc'er	charabancerne charabanc'erne
genitive	charabancs	charabancens charabanc'ens	charabancers charabanc'ers	charabancernes charabanc'ernes