Definitions
Wiktionary
- n. A kind of medieval torture device, later associated with a cucking-stool.
- n. A cart which opens at the back to release its load.
- n. A cart used to carry condemned prisoners to their death, especially to the guillotine during the French Revolution.
- n. UK, obsolete A basket or cage of osiers, willows, or the like, to hold hay and other food for sheep.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a farm dumpcart for carrying dung; carts of this type were used to carry prisoners to the guillotine during the French Revolution
Etymologies
- From Old French tumberel (in Anglo-Latin tumberellus), from tomber, tumber ("to fall"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“At the farm sales, it was impossible not to rescue machines with names like the Nicolson swathe-turner and such things as enormous hay rakes originally designed to be drawn by horses, wooden bullock carts, or the kind of miniature tipping trailer known as a tumbril, one of the most useful things any farm could possess.”
“Well, the "tumbril," as we called it, arrived each day for nearly a week, and we drove off gaily to the appointed spot and saturated ourselves in the characteristics of the land we were shortly to attack.”
“Walking to the turbolift, and riding it up to the bridge, he almost felt that he was riding the tumbril toward the guillotine.”
“Keegle is noble but good taste takes a tumbril | Martin Kelner”
The Guardian: Keegle is noble but good taste takes a tumbril | Martin Kelner
“Anyway, as the tumbril bearing Grant came into view, and we got shots of toothless crones in the crowd getting on with their knitting – or their modern equivalent, West Ham fans looking glum – the Hammers' latest signing, Wayne Bridge, was demonstrating that even a magic Chris Waddle cheque book might not provide an automatic solution to the club's troubles.”
The Guardian: Keegle is noble but good taste takes a tumbril | Martin Kelner
“But ABC's "The Whole Truth," which, by all accounts, is next in line to be tossed on the tumbril, added nearly 860,000 viewers.”
The Washington Post: "Hawaii Five-O" most DVR'd new show, early stats show
“They make great speeches as they ride the tumbril to the guillotine.”
“He mounted the tumbril with him, he mounted the scaffold with him.”
“Accordingly, the tumbril in which the criminal was conveyed to execution was attended by far the greater proportion of the inhabitants of Perth.”
“I feel like I've just rolled up in the tumbril to be only partly decapitated, because before I can get the gist I have to leave to meet Amy Holmes so that we can chat and be miked before our own panel.”
Mayhill Fowler: Personal Democracy Forum: Blogging The Thin Nerdy Line
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tumbril’.
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Niels's Words
bien-pensant, pro re nata, zeitgeist, naïve, quod erat demonst..., dramastic, mélange, amanuensis, heuristic, hermeneutic, gist, gumption and 157 more...
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colleen's words ii
sibilant, sundry, spindle, distaff, device, mortar, pestle, scythe, flail, thresh, frown, elementary and 495 more...
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My List
A list of words that I have generated over time.
cairn, cacodaemoniacal, abash, abject, abjure, abstemious, abhor, abnegate, abnegation, abscond, abstruse, acclivity and 702 more...
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litany of lexical likes
words I find interesting or that stuck in my head or that I want to revisit at some point
loblolly, animadvert, misoneism, outrance, chokedamp, appropinquate, noesis, cataphor, flabbergastment, godforsaken, mendacity, sussurus and 122 more...
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Tale of Two Cities Vocab
Bank of words I need to know for this novel.
epoch, requisition, restoratives, garret, incredulity, blunderbuss, cadaverous, tumbril, adjuration, methodical, modicum, haggard and 13 more...
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arkady1200's Words
precarious, ominous, pundit, bog, ambivalent, sedentary, rampant, pretense, magnanimous, indigent, nonentity, conflagration and 75 more...
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hagendas early favorites
gregarious, incredulous, onomatopoeia, loquacious, quixotic, ammazzacaffè, exsanguinating, buffalo, indefatigable, doppelgänger, wassail, coulrophobia and 57 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tumbril.
Jubjub Something of his sad freedom
As he rode the tumbril
Should come to me, driving,
Saying the names
Tollund, Grauballe, Nebelgard,
Watching the pointing hands
Of country people,
Not knowing their tongue.
Out here in Jutland
In the old man-killing parishes
I will feel lost,
Unhappy and at home.
from "The Tollund Man" by Seamus Heaney Jun 11, 2010
chained_bear See also tumbrel. Oct 10, 2008