carriage

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Carriage
Coach

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English cariage, from Old Northern French cariage, from carier (“to carry”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

carriage (countable and uncountable, plural carriages)

Carriage render
Carriage in Massachusetts
  1. The act of conveying; carrying.
    • 1867, Simeon Thayer; Edwin Martin Stone, The Invasion of Canada in 1775, page 6:
      The remainder of the men were employed in unbarreling our Pork and stringing it on poles for convenience of carriage, and carrying our Batteaux from the river to the pond.
  2. Means of conveyance.
  3. A (mostly four-wheeled) lighter vehicle chiefly designed to transport people, generally drawn by horse power.
    Hyponym: coach
    Antonym: (heavier vehicle designed to transport people or goods) wagon
    The carriage ride was very romantic.
  4. (rail transport, Britain, Abbreviation of railway carriage) A railroad car
    • 1967, Sleigh, Barbara, Jessamy, 1993 edition, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 7:
      When the long, hot journey drew to its end and the train slowed down for the last time, there was a stir in Jessamy’s carriage. People began to shake crumbs from their laps and tidy themselves up a little.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:carriage.
  5. The manner or posture in which one holds or positions a body part, such as one's arm or head.
    The runner has a very low arm carriage.
  6. (now rare) A manner of walking and moving in general; how one carries oneself, bearing, gait.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      His carriage was full comely and vpright, / His countenaunce demure and temperate [...].
    • 1942, Emily Carr, “Characters”, in The Book of Small:
      In spite of her erect carriage she could flop to her knees to pray as smart as any of us.
    • 1986 October 7, Miles Davis, The Dick Cavett Show:
      Cavett: What would it take – seriously – for a musician to be good enough to play in the Miles Davis bands? Suppose you're looking for a new guy.
      Davis: Well, the first thing he needs do – whoever he is – has to have good carriage, you know.
      Cavett: Meaning?
      Davis: Meaning that they have to look like what they're going to play – the instrument.
    • 2009, Cicely Tyson, chapter 5, in Leading Women: Maya Angelou, season 1:
      She [Maya Angelou] towered over everyone and exuded a power that I had not recognized in anyone other than my mother. It was in her height. It was in her carriage. It was in her voice. And, I said to myself, 'This is woman to be reckoned with.'
    • 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 90:
      He chose to speak largely about Vietnam [...], and his wonderfully sonorous voice was as enthralling to me as his very striking carriage and appearance.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:carriage.
  7. (archaic) One's behaviour, or way of conducting oneself towards others.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 407:
      He now assumed a carriage to me so very different from what he had lately worn, and so nearly resembling his behaviour the first week of our marriage, that […] he might, possibly, have rekindled my fondness for him.
    • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, I:
      Some people whisper but no doubt they lie, / For malice still imputes some private end, / That Inez had, ere Don Alfonso's marriage, / Forgot with him her very prudent carriage [...].
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:carriage.
  8. The part of a typewriter supporting the paper.
  9. (US, New England) A shopping cart.
  10. (Britain) A stroller; a baby carriage.
  11. The charge made for conveying (especially in the phrases carriage forward, when the charge is to be paid by the receiver, and carriage paid).
    Synonyms: freight, freightage, cartage, charge, rate
  12. (archaic) That which is carried, baggage

Hyponyms[edit]

types of carriages (wheeled vehicles)

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

wheeled vehicle, generally drawn by horse power — See also translations at coach
railroad car — see railroad car

See also[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=carriage&oldid=72959822"