char-à-banc
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of char-à-banc
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
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:
They met as had been arranged, at Kew Bridge, and got places, with a good deal of difficulty, in one of those char-à-banc things, and Alice thought she was going to enjoy herself tremendously.
From The House of Souls by Machen, Arthur
This new pattern created a great sensation at Olympia, owing to the ease with which it permits even the amateur driver to convert the present body into a char-à-banc or a tipping-waggon.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, 1920-03-31 by Various
Great was the excitement when at five o'clock a motor char-à-banc made its appearance.
From The Luckiest Girl in the School by Brazil, Angela
It would be a longer expedition even than to Vesuvius, and as many were anxious to take part it was arranged to hire a motor char-à-banc to accommodate about twenty-four girls and several teachers.
From The Jolliest School of All by Brazil, Angela
He felt genuinely sorry for her, but his only part was to get out and hand these radiant visions into the char-à-banc.
From The Californians by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn
The bath-houses were built, and the big char-à-bancs rolled down the dusty road to Ravenswood every morning.
From The Californians by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn
"Of course, I've only been in taxis and char-à-bancs and things, but I've always wanted to go in a real motor-car—a private one, I mean!"
From The Making of a Soul by Rhodes, Kathlyn
They passed through Fair Oaks as usual on their afternoon drives, stopping for a chat; in their char-à-bancs or on the verandah.
From The Californians by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn
Women were taking down hoods, unharnessing the horses, fitting slats into outsides of wagons, rolling up blankets, unpacking from the char-à-bancs cooking utensils, children, grain-bags, long columns of bread, and hard-boiled eggs.
From In and out of Three Normady Inns by Dodd, Anna Bowman
It blazed with color from May to November, and there was one of the Rodhaven drivers who on several occasions stopped his char-à-bancs to let the passengers have a long look at it.
From The Devil's Garden by Maxwell, W. B.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
