charabanc

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

Borrowed from French char-à-bancs (literally “carriage with benches”).

Special quick excursion trains and upholstered charabancs had been provided for the comfort of our country cousins of whom there were large contingents. — Ulysses, James Joyce
We went in a large charabancs drawn by two stout horses, starting at six in the morning, and driving right through the Forest of la Tremblaye; and just ahead of us, to show us the way, M. Laferte driving himself in an old cabriolet, with Josselin (from whom he refused to be parted) by his side, singing or talking, according to order, or cracking jokes; we could hear the big laugh of Polyphemus! — The Martian: A Novel, George Du Maurier
Corners and quaintnesses, gems, glimpses and bits are an obsession to the artist, and in consequence, during the summer months, not only did the majority of its inhabitants turn out into the cobbled ways with sketching-blocks, canvases and paintboxes, but every morning brought into the town charabancs from neighbouring places loaded with passengers, many of whom joined the artistic residents, and you would have thought (until an inspection of their productions convinced you of the contrary) that some tremendous outburst of Art was rivalling the Italian Renaissance. — Miss Mapp, E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson

bus, autobus, coach, double-decker, jitney, motorbus, motorcoach, omnibus, passenger vehicle

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