Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A large four-wheeled Russian vehicle, with a boat-shaped body fixed to two parallel longitudinal wooden bars, in place of springs, and a leather top or hood. It is commonly without seats, and is drawn by three horses.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A low four-wheeled carriage used in Russia. The carriage box rests on two long, springy poles which run from the fore to the hind axletree. When snow falls, the wheels are taken off, and the body is mounted on a sledge.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A low
horse-drawn carriage without springs used inRussia , capable of having itswheels replaced withrunners during thewinter .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The vehicle is a kind of tarantass, but not such as I have just described.
Russia Donald Mackenzie Wallace 1880
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Know that the "tarantass" is a sort of berline hung on five pieces of rather elastic wood between wheels placed rather wide apart and of moderate height; that this carriage is driven by a "yemtchik," on the front seat, who has three horses, to whom is added a postilion, the
The Adventures of a Special Correspondent Jules Verne 1866
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Michael saw the tarantass struck, his companion crushed; he saw there was no time to drag her from the vehicle.
Michael Strogoff 2003
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The iemschik, on coming up with his team, threw an inquisitive glance at the passengers of the tarantass.
Michael Strogoff 2003
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This was neither a tarantass nor a telga, but a post-berlin, which looked as if it had made a long journey.
Michael Strogoff 2003
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Some of these platforms extended over three hundred feet, and travelers by tarantass, when crossing them have experienced a nausea like sea-sickness.
Michael Strogoff 2003
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And the mujik related to Michael Strogoff the different incidents of the struggle which he had witnessed — the attack upon the ferry by the Tartar boats, the pillage of the tarantass, and the massacre of the boatmen.
Michael Strogoff 2003
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The forced stoppages were anything but agreeable to Michael; so he hastened the departure at each relay, roused the innkeepers, urged on the iemschiks, and expedited the harnessing of the tarantass.
Michael Strogoff 2003
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It was a fortunate thing, under the circumstances, for the tarantass could not have carried both baggage and travelers.
Michael Strogoff 2003
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As soon as the ferryboat landed the tarantass on the right bank of the Ichim, the journey across the steppe was resumed with all speed.
Michael Strogoff 2003
mollusque commented on the word tarantass
A low, four-wheeled, springless Russian travelling carriage.
December 16, 2007
milosrdenstvi commented on the word tarantass
But to what sort of a vehicle should he harness his horses? To a telga or to a tarantass? The telga is nothing but an open four-wheeled cart, made entirely of wood, the pieces fastened together by means of strong rope. Nothing could be more primitive, nothing could be less comfortable; but, on the other hand, should any accident happen on the way, nothing could be more easily repaired. There is no want of firs on the Russian frontier, and axle-trees grow naturally in forests. The post extraordinary, known by the name of "perck-ladnoi," is carried by the telga, as any road is good enough for it. It must be confessed that sometimes the ropes which fasten the concern together break, and whilst the hinder part remains stuck in some bog, the fore-part arrives at the post-house on two wheels; but this result is considered quite satisfactory.
Michael Strogoff would have been obliged to employ a telga, if he had not been lucky enough to discover a tarantass. It is to be hoped that the invention of Russian coach-builders will devise some improvement in this last-named vehicle. Springs are wanting in it as well as in the telga; in the absence of iron, wood is not spared; but its four wheels, with eight or nine feet between them, assure a certain equilibrium over the jolting rough roads. A splash-board protects the travelers from the mud, and a strong leathern hood, which may be pulled quite over the occupiers, shelters them from the great heat and violent storms of the summer. The tarantass is as solid and as easy to repair as the telga, and is, moreover, less addicted to leaving its hinder part in the middle of the road.
-- Jules Verne, Michael Strogoff
October 8, 2009
knitandpurl commented on the word tarantass
"Mikhail left for Siberia that night in a tarantass (a springless carriage) and covered the distance from Moscow to Irkutsk in fifteen days."
Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier, p 278
February 19, 2011