hansom

[ han-suhm ]

noun
  1. a low-hung, two-wheeled, covered vehicle drawn by one horse, for two passengers, with the driver being mounted on an elevated seat behind and the reins running over the roof.

  2. any similar horse-drawn vehicle.

Origin of hansom

1
1850–55; named after J. A. Hansom (1803–82), English architect who designed it
  • Also called hansom cab .

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

How to use hansom in a sentence

  • He was uncomfortable, and there were hansoms about that he looked at wistfully.

    The Tragic Muse | Henry James
  • There was no sound of traffic; no hansoms clattered over the cobbles, and it was still too early for the milk carts.

  • I said when we had skirted the shallow drive, avoiding a couple of hansoms that stood there with the cabmen snug inside.

    Witching Hill | E. W. Hornung
  • We also felt it, for ten minutes afterward, our passions having died away, we shook hands cordially and agreed to call hansoms.

    The Little White Bird | J. M. Barrie
  • He kept chiefly to the great roads, so full of hansoms that a wilder pair than they might easily have passed in the press.

    The Ball and The Cross | G.K. Chesterton

British Dictionary definitions for hansom

hansom

/ (ˈhænsəm) /


noun
  1. (sometimes capital) a two-wheeled one-horse carriage with a fixed hood. The driver sits on a high outside seat at the rear: Also called: hansom cab

Origin of hansom

1
C19: short for hansom cab, named after its designer J. A. Hansom (1803–82)

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