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tumbril

 - 3 dictionary results

tum⋅brel

  [tuhm-bruhl]
Use tumbril in a Sentence
–noun
1. one of the carts used during the French Revolution to convey victims to the guillotine.
2. a farmer's cart, esp. one for hauling manure, that can be tilted to discharge its load.
3. Obsolete. a two-wheeled covered cart accompanying artillery for carrying tools, ammunition, etc.
Also, tumbril.

Origin:
1275–1325; ME tumberell ducking stool < ML tumberellus < OF tumberel dump-cart, equiv. to tombe(r) to fall (see tumble ) + -rel -rel
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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tum·brel or tum·bril   (tŭm'brəl)   
n.  

  1. A two-wheeled cart, especially a farmer's cart that can be tilted to dump a load.

  2. A crude cart used to carry condemned prisoners to their place of execution, as during the French Revolution.


[Middle English tumberell, from Old French tomberel, from tomber, to let fall, perhaps of Germanic origin.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

tumbrel 
c.1440, "two-wheeled cart," earlier an instrument of punishment of uncertain type (1223), from O.Fr. tumberel "dump cart," from tomber "(let) fall or tumble," possibly from a Gmc. source (cf. O.N. tumba "to tumble," O.H.G. tumon "to turn, reel;" see tumble). Notoriously used to take victims to the guillotine during the Reign of Terror.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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