wagon-lit

[ French va-gawn-lee ]
See synonyms for wagon-lit on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural wa·gons-lits [va-gawn-lee]. /va gɔ̃ˈli/.
  1. (in continental European usage) a railroad sleeping car.

Origin of wagon-lit

1
First recorded in 1880–85; from French, equivalent to wagon “railway coach” (from English ) + lit “bed” (from Latin lectus )

Words Nearby wagon-lit

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wagon-lit in a sentence

  • And the wagon-lit, booked to Syracuse, calmly left stranded in the station of Messina, to go no further.

    Sea and Sardinia | D. H. Lawrence
  • You've made yourself pretty well at home in this wagon-lit, anyhow, taking off all your clothes and putting on your nightgown.

    The Motor Maid | Alice Muriel Williamson and Charles Norris Williamson
  • As The Sparrow lay that night in the wagon-lit he tried to sleep, but the roar and rattle of the train prevented it.

    Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo | William Le Queux
  • And he produced a batch of tickets, among which I saw coupons for reserved compartments in the wagon-lit.

    The Golden Face | William Le Queux
  • The carriage was an ordinary "wagon-lit" converted with considerable ingenuity into a Hospital Train.

    "Contemptible" | "Casualty"

British Dictionary definitions for wagon-lit

wagon-lit

/ (French vaɡɔ̃li) /


nounplural wagons-lits (vaɡɔ̃li)
  1. a sleeping car on a European railway

  2. a compartment on such a car

Origin of wagon-lit

1
C19: from French, from wagon railway coach + lit bed

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012