charabanc
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈʃæ.ɹə.bæŋ(k)/
Forms: form: charabancs
form: char-à-banc
Etymology: Borrowed from French char-à-bancs (literally “carriage with benches”).
Senses: examples: text: A little further on, to the right, was a large garage, where the charabancs stood, half in and half out of the yard.
ref: 1931, Francis Beeding, “2/2”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps:
text: And full of colored dreams / Deep inside a rainbow / Lived Happiness Stan / In a small Victorian charabanc
ref: 1968, “Happiness Stan”, in Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, performed by Small Faces:
text: The cumbersome though finely painted charabanc of the late James style is pulled swaying along by a frisky pony of a plot farcical and romantic.
ref: 2006 Aug 7 & 14, John Updike, “Late Works”, in The New Yorker, page 70:
synonyms: word: chara
glosses: A horse-drawn, and then later, motorized omnibus with open sides, and often, no roof.
examples: text: Oh shit, there goes the charabanc!
Looks like I'm gonna be stuck here the whole summer
ref: 1977, “Peaches”, performed by the Stranglers:
text: Mum had worked there as a teenager and once recalled her duty of having to meet the charabancs that brought the well-heeled to the baths from Droitwich station before the war.
ref: 2023 February 22, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 977, page 71:
glosses: A bus, especially one hired by groups for pleasure outings, what was later called a coach.
examples: text: We return to the charabanc of a car to find a swarm of children dancing round it, clambering up the back, jumping on the step; the driver sleeps peacefully at the wheel, oblivious of their shrieks.
ref: 1951, Ethel Mannin, South to Samarkand, page 109:
text: Just as I'm thinking my plan has failed an old charabanc of a vehicle slows down and starts hooting.
ref: 2011, Fi Glover, Travels With My Radio: I Am An Oil Tanker:
text: It was lucky therefore that I kept an eye on the quayside blackboard by the stern of the "Patmos Star", a charabanc of a daytrip boat that was to transport me and my bags to the tiny island of Lipsí, a short hop from Patmos.
ref: 2011, Harry Bucknall, In The Dolphin's Wake:
text: […] but Mark has never even sat on a motorbike, let alone ridden one before and certainly not with a rowboat attached and a spasmatic dog riding pillion. It was nice to see that there was stillsome good old-fashioned British embarrassment left, as straggling past Philippe with a muttered "Au revoir, Breton.", we pushed the whole charabanc a mile up the road until there was no sign of habitation; in France even the lamp-posts have eyes.
ref: 2014, Laura Tong, Mark Tong, The Dog's Rollocks:
text: The lantern got closer until eventually the sound, smell and heat of dogs was upon them, and a train of huskies stopped in a great cloud of steam. The whole charabanc emitted a strong smell of hot stew, which my mum remembers as the most heavenly thing she had ever smelt.
ref: 2022, Jacques Peretti, Little Bird of Auschwitz:
glosses: A vehicle that is slow, overcrowded, or otherwise undesirable.
examples: text: For all their lean and hungry look, and for all they wear the simplest of dhotis around their loins, they usually have clever accomplices in the crowd, and a whole charabanc full of invisible wires and concealed cabinets.
ref: 2013, David Ovason, The Zelator:
text: He comes along all dressed up in the real deal costume, all the sequins and rhinestone, the heavyweight boxing belt, the cape, the whole charabanc, you know?
ref: 2013, R.J. Ellory, The R. J. Ellory Collection:
text: Schuman's European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, which set the whole charabanc rolling, operated in the interests of producers.
ref: 2014, Dennis Skinner, Kevin Maguire, Sailing Close to the Wind: Reminiscences:
text: Nevertheless, I felt responsible. I'd started the whole charabanc. It was my band.
ref: 2018, Alan Longmuir, Martin Knight, I Ran With The Gang: My Life In and Out of the Bay City Rollers:
glosses: An elaborate production or endeavor involving many people or things.