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hearse 
Audio Help [hurs] Pronunciation Key
—Related forms
Audio Help [hurs] Pronunciation Key –noun
| 1. | a vehicle for conveying a dead person to the place of burial. |
| 2. | a triangular frame for holding candles, used at the service of Tenebrae in Holy Week. |
| 3. | a canopy erected over a tomb. |
[Origin: 1250–1300; ME herse < MF herce a harrow < L hirpicem, acc. of hirpex]
] —Related forms
hearselike, adjective
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
hearse
To learn more about hearse visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| hearse
Audio Help (hûrs) Pronunciation Key
n.
[Middle English herse, a harrow-shaped structure for holding candles over a coffin, from Old French herce, from Medieval Latin hercia, from Latin hirpex, hirpic-, harrow, probably from Oscan hirpus, wolf (alluding to its teeth).] |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
hearse
1291 (in Anglo-Latin), "flat framework for candles, hung over a coffin," from O.Fr. herce "long rake, harrow," from M.L. hercia, from L. hirpicem (nom. hirpex) "harrow," from Oscan hirpus "wolf," supposedly in allusion to its teeth. The Oscan word may be related to L. hirsutus "shaggy, bristly." So called because it resembled a harrow, a large rake for breaking up soil. Sense extended to other temporary frameworks built over dead people, then to "vehicle for carrying a body," a sense first recorded 1650.
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| hearse | |
noun | |
| a vehicle for carrying a coffin to a church or a cemetery; formerly drawn by horses but now usually a motor vehicle |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
hearse [həːs] noun
a car used for carrying a dead body in a coffin to a cemetery etc
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| Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd. |
Hearse
Hearse\, n. [Etymol. uncertain.] A hind in the year of its age. [Eng.] --Wright.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
Hearse
Hearse\, n. [See Herse.]1. 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. [Obs.] --Oxf. Gloss. 2. A grave, coffin, tomb, or sepulchral monument. [Archaic] "Underneath this marble hearse." --B. Johnson. Beside the hearse a fruitful palm tree grows. --Fairfax Who lies beneath this sculptured hearse. --Longfellow. 3. A bier or handbarrow for conveying the dead to the grave. [Obs.] Set down, set down your honorable load, It honor may be shrouded in a hearse. --Shak. 4. A carriage specially adapted or used for conveying the dead to the grave.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
Hearse
Hearse\, v. t. To inclose in a hearse; to entomb. [Obs.] "Would she were hearsed at my foot." --Shak.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
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