hearse

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“
Get hence, the hearse is at your door -- the grim black stallions wait --

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Definitions (15)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A vehicle for conveying a coffin to a church or cemetery.
  2. noun Roman Catholic Church A triangular candelabrum used at Tenebrae during Holy Week.
  3. noun A framelike structure over a coffin or tomb on which to hang epitaphs.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • The coffin slid into the back of the family wagon, otherwise known as a hearse, and the door was slammed. —  Meredith Blevins - [Szabo 01] - The Hummingbird Wizard
  • Perhaps it was because there were no visitors, and there was a feeling that none would in fact come, though the hearse was already at the door. —  Maigret Stonewalled—Georges Simenon - 03
  • Unfortunately the left and Demoncrats reward and perpetuate selfhate with governmental slavery now officially REINSTATED by the Porulus spending bill! at 04 / 02 / 2009 @ 10: 13am can't waste a day when the night brings a hearse -- so make a move and plead the 5th cuz you can't plead the 1st - RATM —  The Nation: Top Stories
  • But the hearse was dispatched as a ruse, McSweeney told a news conference later Monday. —  The Herald | HeraldOnline.com - Front
  • But the hearse was dispatched as a ruse, funeral home director Keith McSweeney told a news conference later, adding that Jett's remains were actually being cremated. —  Daily Express News Feeds
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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. 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).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. As a historical term, referring to obsolete senses, and as a term of fortification (from French herse), spelled herse (see herse); early modern English only herse, from Middle English herse, hers, herce, a frame for lights in a church service or at a funeral, a funeral pageant, a bier, a pall, also a dead body (the sense of ‘carriage for conveying the dead’ being more modern), the frame being so called from its likeness to a harrow, from Old French herce, a harrow, also a grated portcullis (Middle Latin hercia, hersia), French herse, a harrow, a portcullis (herse, 1), triangular candlestick, = Italian erpice, a harrow, from Latin hirpex (hirpic-), also spelled irpex, a harrow: a rustic word, perhaps a corruption of Greek ἁρπαξ, a kind of grappling-iron (also a rake?), akin to ἁρπάγη, a rake: see Harpax.
  2. from hearse, n.
 

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/hərs/
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