char-à-banc

Or char·a·banc

[shar-uh-bang, -bangk, sha-ra-bahn]

noun

British.

plural

char-à-bancs 

1. a large bus used on sightseeing tours, especially one with open sides and no center aisle.

Word History and Origins

Origin of char-à-banc¹

1810–20; back formation from French char-à-bancs literally, car with benches, the -s being taken as plural ending of word as a whole

Example Sentences

It was Joule with a long thermometer in his hand, which he would not trust by itself in the char-à-banc, coming slowly up the hill behind him, lest it should get broken.

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But there, comfortably and safely seated in the char-à-banc, was his bride—the sympathetic companion and sharer in his work of after years.

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“Voilà votre affaire,” he said, and indicated a machine that would have been out of date when the first char-à-banc was constructed.

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The party, some half-dozen in number, and of the English nation, had arrived at Chamouny in the night, later by some hours than they ought to have done, owing to the break-down of their nondescript vehicle, called a char-à-banc, just after they had quitted St. Martin, a quiet little village, whence the view of Mont Blanc is splendid in the extreme.

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During their quiet journey back to St. Martin, in the char-à-banc, they, having nothing better to do, began discussing the episode, as John Rayner himself named it.

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