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

Out of the calash in the corner came back a faint echo, which trembled as from inward vexation.

From At the Ghost Hour The House of the Unbelieving Thomas by Heyse, Paul

"Be still, will you!" commanded the voice from the calash, rather faintly.

From At the Ghost Hour The House of the Unbelieving Thomas by Heyse, Paul

When she returns at night, she appears, if the weather happens to be doubtful, in a calash; and her servant in pattens, follows half behind and half at her side, with a lantern.

From A Century of English Essays An Anthology Ranging from Caxton to R. L. Stevenson & the Writers of Our Own Time by Rhys, Ernest

Her calash was untied, and her curly locks had escaped their ribbon and hung in picturesque confusion about her face.

From Peggy Owen at Yorktown by Madison, Lucy Foster