Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A light, open, two-wheeled carriage, drawn by two horses abreast.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A chaise or carriage with two wheels, drawn by two horses abreast.
- noun . A short course.
- To drive in a curricle.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A small or short course.
- noun A two-wheeled chaise drawn by two horses abreast.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A light two wheeled
carriage large enough for the driver and a passenger and drawn by a carefully-matched pair.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The word curricle made Charles Musgrove jump up that he might compare it with his own; the servant in mourning roused Anne's curiosity, and the whole six were collected to look, by the time the owner of the curricle was to be seen issuing from the door amidst the bows and civilities of the household, and taking his seat, to drive off.
Persuasion Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 1892
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The word curricle made Charles Musgrove jump up that he might compare it with his own; the servant in mourning roused Anne's curiosity, and the whole six were collected to look, by the time the owner of the curricle was to be seen issuing from the door amidst the bows and civilities of the household, and taking his seat, to drive off.
Persuasion 1892
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Swindlery and Blackguardism have stretched hands across the Channel, and saluted mutually: on the racecourse of Vincennes or Sablons, behold in English curricle-and-four, wafted glorious among the principalities and rascalities, an English Dr. Dodd, (Adelung, Geschichte der Menschlichen Narrheit, para Dodd.) -- for whom also the too early gallows gapes.
The French Revolution Thomas Carlyle 1838
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Theres a lake in front with boatsful of nobillaty and musitions floting on its placid sufface — and a curricle is a driving up to the grand hentrance, and me in it, with
The diary of C. Jeames De La Pluche, Esq., with his letters 2006
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Theres a lake in front with boatsful of nobillaty and musitions floting on its placid sufface — and a curricle is a driving up to the grand hentrance, and me in it, with
Burlesques 2006
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The word curricle made Charles Musgrove jump up that he might compare it with his own; the servant in mourning roused Anne’s curiosity, and the whole six were collected to look, by the time the owner of the curricle was to be seen issuing from the door amidst the bows and civilities of the household, and taking his seat, to drive off.
Persuasion 1818
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"Curriculo collegisse juvat" -- are there any individuals to whom their curricle has been a college, and who have done without a university in the strength of a fast-trotting horse?
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 333, July 1843 Various
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With a rapid, jingling drive to the harbour in a two - wheeled machine (which Captain Mitchell called a curricle) behind a fleet and scraggy mule beaten all the time by an obviously Neapolitan driver, the cycle would be nearly closed before the lighted-up offices of the O.S. N. Company, remaining open so late because of the steamer.
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Theres a lake in front with boatsful of nobillaty and musitions floting on its placid sufface -- and a curricle is a driving up to the grand hentrance, and me in it, with Mrs., or perhaps Lady Hangelana de la Pluche.
Burlesques William Makepeace Thackeray 1837
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A very short trial convinced her that a curricle was the prettiest equipage in the world; the chaise and four wheeled off with some grandeur, to be sure, but it was a heavy and troublesome business, and she could not easily forget its having stopped two hours at Petty France.
Northanger Abbey 1818
bestiary commented on the word curricle
a great citation on wiktionary:
"Not since the year 17--, when milord Castlebrilliant's curricle was whirled to sea with her ladyship within, had there been such vehement weather."
- Ronald Firbank, Valmouth (1919)
July 24, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word curricle
cf coracle
July 24, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word curricle
Usage on barouche.
October 22, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word curricle
"Mrs Ilbert, arriving in Quebec in 1807, was pleased to learn that even in winter, 'There are frequently very pleasant excursions, made by parties into the country, they are Pic Nic parties where each person takes something towards the Entertainment, they drive to some house a few miles from Quebec, carry a Fidler with them & when they have finished their repast, they rise & dance until they agree upon separating, when the curricles (carriages) are ordered & the parties jovially return to their habitations, some get overturned but no accidents are ever met with but they only fall on a bed of snow, have a roll or two, to the great amusement of the Spectators, get up, shake themselves & resume their Seats.'"
—Annabel Venning, Following the Drum: The Lives of Army Wives and Daughters Past and Present (London: Headline, 2005), 193–194
May 18, 2010