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horseless carriage

American  
[hawrs-lis] / ˈhɔrs lɪs /

noun

  1. an automobile.

    The horse and buggy were eventually replaced by the horseless carriage.


Etymology

Origin of horseless carriage

First recorded in 1890–95


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

“A friend of mine has a 1903 horseless carriage with a motor that he’s able to register as a historical vehicle,” Dravis said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026

Then Frederick decided they should get into the horseless carriage business themselves.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 18, 2023

Mr. Swift notes that some news reports at the time considered the rover an “inevitable, almost comic product of the most automotive people on Earth,” although there was nothing inevitable about this extraterrestrial horseless carriage.

From New York Times ● Jul. 27, 2021

The kooky inventor of a horseless carriage rivals a banker’s son for a liveryman’s daughter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2020

He named it Foolish Carriage because, he said, it was foolish for any man with as many children as he to think he could afford a horseless carriage.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

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