cart
noun
a heavy two-wheeled vehicle, commonly without springs, drawn by mules, oxen, or the like, used for the conveyance of heavy goods.
cart
American
[kahrt]
/ kɑrt /
noun
-
carts
plural
-
a heavy two-wheeled vehicle, commonly without springs, drawn by mules, oxen, or the like, used for the conveyance of heavy goods.
-
a light two-wheeled vehicle with springs, drawn by a horse or pony.
-
any small vehicle pushed or pulled by hand.
-
Obsolete. a chariot.
verb (used with object)
-
carts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
carted,
past participle, past
-
carting
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
carts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
carted,
past participle, past
-
carting
present participle
verb phrase
idioms
-
put the cart before the horse, to do or place things in improper order; be illogical.
-
on the water cart, wagon.
cart
1
British
/ kɑːt /
noun
-
a heavy open vehicle, usually having two wheels and drawn by horses, used in farming and to transport goods
-
a light open horse-drawn vehicle having two wheels and springs, for business or pleasure
-
any small vehicle drawn or pushed by hand, such as a trolley
-
to reverse the usual or natural order of things
verb
-
(usually tr) to use or draw a cart to convey (goods, etc)
to cart groceries
-
(tr) to carry with effort; haul
to cart wood home
CART
2
British
abbreviation
cart
3
British
/ kɑːt /
noun
cart
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cartsimple
-
cartssimple
-
have cartedperfect
-
has cartedperfect
-
am cartingprogressive
-
are cartingprogressive
-
is cartingprogressive
-
have been cartingperfect progressive
-
has been cartingperfect progressive
Past
-
cartedsimple
-
had cartedperfect
-
was cartingprogressive
-
were cartingprogressive
-
had been cartingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cart
before 900; Middle English cart ( e ), Old English cræt (by metathesis); cognate with Old Norse kartr cart
Explanation
A cart is a vehicle with wheels that's pulled by an animal, a person, or by another vehicle. You could attach a cart to your dog and teach him to pull it around. The typical cart is hooked up to a draft horse or another farm animal. Other kinds of carts include hand carts, which can be stacked with heavy items and easily pushed or pulled by people; and golf carts, which are open vehicles that are powered by electricity or gasoline. When you cart something around, you lug it or transport it. The word cart comes from a Scandinavian source, probably the Old Norse kartr.
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:
In Bang Kapi locals used ice-boxes and other floating plastic containers to cart supplies from nearby markets and supermarkets, AFP reporters saw.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
Moore spent several minutes on the field before being loaded onto a cart and taken to Los Angeles General Medical Center by ambulance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
The burger chain Shake Shack began in 2001 as a single hot-dog cart in Madison Square Park.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
The site's blog explores the "serious side" of the fake takeaway, from food-delivery addiction and why fake ordering feels good to cravings, guilt and the psychology of the shopping cart.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Then the hardest part: the dive from the bookcase to the overhead projector cart.
From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney
During his ownership of the property, the racing legend has enjoyed an impressive career across an array of auto arenas, including Nascar, IndyCar, CART, and the Dakar Rally.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 20, 2025
Goldman Sachs and J.P.Morgan are the lead underwriters for the offering, Instacart said, adding that its shares would be listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol "CART."
From Reuters ● Sep. 7, 2023
But the F1 sanctioning fees were exorbitant and promoters rebranded the race for CART, which was the U.S.-based open-wheel series at the time.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2022
In bringing the series to Las Vegas, Bernard hoped to jolt the series back to life after more than decade of lagging crowds and ratings spawned by the series’ bitter 1996 split with CART.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 15, 2011
Another time I give her CART, and then chalked the same upon the cart.
From Doctor Marigold by Charles Dickens
With one click, Walmart shoppers can add to their online carts a family-size Stouffer’s Lasagna with a store brand Caesar salad kit and French bread.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
He puts the authorities' leniency down partly to the tidy and spartan way he operates his business: a bench, umbrella, card reader and table that he folds up and carts away each evening.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
On your way out, be sure to leave books on the bright orange carts featuring signs of Yoda imploring guests to follow the golden rule: “Reshelve, do not. Leave books here, you must!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
The game is played in bumper-car-like carts while you wield a lacrosse-style stick and try to score, and within minutes everyone in our group was laughing.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
I laugh, remembering how fun it was to race the laundry carts.
From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks
I tracked down two New Jersey record stores whose sites said they’d purchase all types of albums, so we carted ours to them.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
What made this family silver different from all the other items I have carted away?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Biadasz, who was unable to put weight on his left leg, was carted off the field and visibly upset.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
After the early loss of Phil Salt, Brook carted Prince Yadav for two consecutive mighty leg-side sixes and followed with a trademark lofted cover drive into the stands off Axar.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Maybe, just maybe, if you stand on the steps of my home—if Traft hasn’t carted it away so that his Tipped M cows can run free—you will catch loose memories on the breeze.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
But when a delivery service is carting cash around town instead of a lukewarm burrito, the stakes and security concerns, obviously, are higher.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 14, 2025
She compares carting the demo reel around Hollywood to “what the Avon lady goes through.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
"He absolutely showed that he was scared by the explosions but he got used to it and was carting artillery around the place in big boxes."
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2024
At the speaker’s office, where McCarthy’s name had still been out front since his ouster last week, crews were seen carting boxes and artwork out of the stately suite in the Capitol.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 11, 2023
By the end of the next day, I was carting around five of these fun packs in an alarming assortment of pastel and Day-Glo colors.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
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