postilion

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun someone who rides the near horse of a pair in order to guide the horses pulling a carriage (especially a carriage without a coachman)

Etymology

From Middle French postillon, and its likely source, Italian postiglione (“guide for driver of post-coach”), from posta (“post”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

postillion

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading