calash

American  

[kuh-lash] / kəˈlæʃ /

noun

1. Also a light vehicle pulled by one or two horses, seating two to four passengers, and having two or four wheels, a seat for a driver on a splashboard, and sometimes a folding top.

2. a folding top of a carriage.

3. calèche.

4. a bonnet that folds back like the top of a calash, worn by women in the 18th century.

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calash British  

/ kəˈlæʃ /

noun

1. a horse-drawn carriage with low wheels and a folding top

2. the folding top of such a carriage

3. a woman's folding hooped hood worn in the 18th century

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Etymology

Origin of calash

1660–70; < French calèche < German Kalesche < Czech kolesa carriage, literally, wheels; see wheel

Example Sentences

She was clothed, her dress soaked from the water in which she had sunk herself; she wore a calash upon her head.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

Coaches grow there no more than balm and spices: we were forced to drop our post-chaise, that resembled nothing so much as harlequin’s calash, which was occasionally a chaise or a baker’s cart.

From The Brighton Road The Classic Highway to the South by Harper, Charles G. (Charles George)

She wore a hood on her head,—a large calash, which had a curtain that hung about her shoulders.

From The Story of Old Fort Loudon by Murfree, Mary Noailles

Happily there was at hand a sorry calash, which by chance the Swedes had brought along with them; this they put on board a little boat, and the king and General Mazeppa embarked in another.

From Curiosities of Human Nature by Anonymous

And, yes,—that large red hood, calash, that you wore the first day you arrived at the fort,"—his ready smile flickered,—"on an understanding so little pleasing to your taste.

From The Story of Old Fort Loudon by Murfree, Mary Noailles