checkstring

English

Etymology

check +‎ string

Noun

checkstring (plural checkstrings)

1. A cord used by a passenger in a carriage to signal to the driver to slow down or go faster.
   • 1864,, William Stephens Hayward, Revelations of a Lady Detective, short story "Incognito", George Vickers, Strand

     I pulled the check-string, and gave him [the coachdriver] his instructions.

   • 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 4

     Mrs Hurstpierpoint - the dowager of the gleaming brows - leaned forward all at once in the carriage and pulled the checkstring attached to her footman's arm.