Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A two-wheeled, one-horse carriage that has two seats and a folding top.
  • noun An automobile with a folding top; a convertible coupe.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Properly, a covered one-horse carriage with two wheels: now often made with four wheels and a calash top. See cab.
  • noun In furniture, a light armchair. Cabriolets are first mentioned in a French inventory of 1759.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A one-horse carriage with two seats and a calash top.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An automobile with a retractable top.
  • noun originally A light two-wheeled carriage with a folding top pulled by a single horse.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun small two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage; with two seats and a folding hood

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, diminutive of cabriole, caper, from obsolete capriole, from Italian capriola, from capriolo, roebuck, from Latin capreolus, masculine diminutive of caprea, roe deer, from caper, he-goat.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowing from French cabriolet.

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Examples

  • Lady Portmore; but in Stuart's case his cabriolet is an actual measure of economy; he sold those magnificent carriage-horses when he set it up.

    The Semi-Attached Couple 1860

  • I called a cabriolet, and the first thing the driver asked was, "Is the Bill carried?"

    Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay Volume 1 George Otto Trevelyan 1883

  • The high-performance two-seater cabriolet is codenamed R2, and is being developed with VW.

    AutoSpies.com News 2009

  • The high-performance two-seater cabriolet is codenamed Audi's sister firm is also believed to be putting the finishing touches to a production version of the BlueSport concept car revealed at the 2009 Detroit Motor Show.

    Advance auto zone blog about fast cars and auto trader 2009

  • When a bourgeois of Boulogne takes the air, he goes in a one-horse chaise, which is here called cabriolet, and hires it for half-a-crown a day.

    Travels through France and Italy 2004

  • The second occupant of the cabriolet was a young girl, sixteen or eighteen years old -- sixteen rather than eighteen.

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, October 1847 Various

  • After the performance the gallant Desmahis called a cabriolet and escorted the _citoyenne_ Blaise back to the _Amour peintre_.

    Dieux ont soif. English Anatole France 1884

  • There was a beech table half eaten into by a geometrically precise hummocky valley and a pair of side tables made from cardboard, with what looked like the ghosts of elegant 18th-century cabriolet-legged wooden tables hovering inside them.

    Combining Craft with Digital Emma Crichton-Miller 2010

  • Presenting Hitler with a custom-built black Volkswagen cabriolet for his birthday in 1942 didn't hurt either.

    What a Long Strange Trip Patrick Cooke 2012

  • At Highgrove, he careened around the grounds on his bicycle or a skateboard, climbed so high up in trees that he had to be rescued by the local fire department, and totaled his miniature Jaguar XJS cabriolet—a birthday present from the manufacturer.

    William and Kate Christopher Andersen 2011

Comments

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  • Usage on barouche.

    October 22, 2008

  • as in taximeter cabriolet, or taxicab.

    March 19, 2009

  • Given the etymology of 'cabriolet' I am surprised there is no modern reference to 'roe-bucks' or other prancing, capering, mountain climbing, capricornian or goatey type animals. What about in France?

    June 12, 2013