hearse

English

Funeral carriage

Etymology

From Middle English herse, hers, herce, from Old French herce, from Medieval Latin hercia, from Latin herpicem, hirpex; ultimately from Oscan 𐌇𐌉𐌓𐌐𐌖𐌔 (hirpus, “wolf”), a reference to the teeth. The Oscan term is related to Latin hirsutus (“bristly, shaggy”). Doublet of hirsute.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɜːs/
• IPA^(key): /hɜɹs/, [hɝs]
• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)s

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

hearse (plural hearses)

1. A hind (female deer) in the second year of her age.
2. A framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax lights and set up in a church, under which the coffin was placed during the funeral ceremonies.
3. A grave, coffin, tomb, or sepulchral monument.
   • Ben Jonson

     underneath this marble hearse

   • Fairfax

     Beside the hearse a fruitful palm tree grows.

   • Longfellow

     who lies beneath this sculptured hearse

4. A bier or handbarrow for conveying the dead to the grave.
   • Shakespeare

     Set down, set down your honourable load, / If honour may be shrouded in a hearse.

5. A carriage or vehicle specially adapted or used for transporting a dead person to the place of funeral or to the grave.

Translations

hind on her second year

• Dutch: tweejarige hinde f
• Finnish: vuonelo (fi) (reindeer)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: cerbiatta (it) f, cerva (it) f

framework placed over coffin or tomb

• Dutch: baldakijn (nl) m, overhuiving f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: baldacchino (it) m, catafalco m

grave, coffin, tomb

• Bulgarian: гроб (bg) m (grob)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Dutch: graf (nl) n, lijkkist (nl) f, graftombe (nl) f

bier or handbarrow for carrying the dead

• Dutch: katafalk (nl) ?
• Finnish: ruumispaarit pl
• Irish: eileatram m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: cataletto m
• Russian: катафа́лк (ru) m (katafálk)

vehicle for transporting dead

• Armenian: դիակառք (hy) (diakaṙkʻ)
• Azerbaijani: mafə
• Bulgarian: катафалка f (katafalka)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 靈車／灵车 (ling⁴ ce¹)

  Mandarin: 柩車／柩车 (zh) (jiùchē), 柩车 (zh) (jiùchē), 殯車／殡车 (zh) (bìnchē), 殡车 (zh) (bìnchē), 靈車／灵车 (zh) (língchē), 灵车 (zh) (língchē)

• Czech: pohřební vůz
• Danish: ligvogn c, rustvogn (da) c
• Dutch: lijkwagen (nl) m, rouwkoets f
• Esperanto: ĉerkveturilo
• Finnish: ruumisauto (fi), ruumisvaunut pl
• French: corbillard (fr) m
• German: Leichenwagen (de) m
• Greek: νεκροφόρα (el) f (nekrofóra)
• Hungarian: halottaskocsi (hu)
• Ido: sarkoveturo (io)
• Irish: eileatram, marbhchóiste m, cóiste marbh m
• Italian: carro funebre m, carrozza funeraria f
• Japanese: 霊柩車 (れいきゅうしゃ, reikyūsha)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 영구차 (yeonggucha)
• Latvian: katafalks m
• Lithuanian: katafalkas m
• Maori: waka tūpāpaku
• Norman: hèrse f
• Norwegian: likbil (no)
• Persian: نعش‌کش (na'š-keš)
• Polish: karawan (pl) m
• Portuguese: rabecão m, carro fúnebre m
• Romanian: dric (ro) n
• Russian: катафа́лк (ru) m (katafálk)
• Serbo-Croatian: odar (sh) m
• Spanish: coche fúnebre m, carroza (es) f
• Swedish: likbil (sv), bårbil
• Turkish: cenaze arabası
• Ukrainian: катафа́лк m (katafálk)
• Vietnamese: xe tang (vi)
• Welsh: elorgerbyd

References

• “hearse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “hearse”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “hearse”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Verb

1. (dated) To enclose in a hearse; to entomb.
   • 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act III Scene 1

     I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear! would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin!

Anagrams

• harees, sharee