Conestoga wagon
[kon-uh-stoh-guh, kon-]
- a large, heavy, broad-wheeled covered wagon, used especially for transporting pioneers and freight across North America during the early westward migration.
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Origin of Conestoga wagon
First recorded in 1690–1700; named after Conestoga, Pa., where it was first made
Also called Con·es·to·ga.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for conestoga
Contemporary Examples
Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation A Pennsylvania-based wood cabinet and specialty products manufacturer.
The owners of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood cannot be allowed to impose their religious beliefs on their employees.
Conestoga Wood, which makes wood cabinets, is owned by conservative Mennonites.
With some superglue from Hobby Lobby and some wood from Conestoga, you can build yourself one heck of a dangerous slippery slope.
Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood are trying to evade this requirement by creating a new category of faith—corporate religion.
Historical Examples
Its fall, immediately beside the Conestoga, blocked Steve's window.
The Long RollMary Johnston
"If my brother will not go with me, I will go with my brother," said the Conestoga.
Prisoners of HopeMary Johnston
It will be a Conestoga with the curtains rolled up, so that everybody can see in.
Dr. Jonathan (A Play)Winston Churchill
I was put, with eight others, in a great Conestoga wain without a cover.
Hugh Wynne, Free QuakerS. Weir Mitchell
It was inferior to the Conestoga wagon in detail and equipments.
Stage-coach and Tavern DaysAlice Morse Earle
Conestoga wagon
- US and Canadian a large heavy horse-drawn covered wagon used in the 19th century
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Word Origin
C19: after Conestoga, Pennsylvania, where it was first made
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for conestoga
Conestoga
1690s, name of an Indian tribe in southcentral Pennsylvania, probably from some Iroquoian language and sometimes said to mean "people of the cabin pole;" later a place in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A characteristic type of covered wagon, called Conestoga wagon, was built there from 1750 (about three years before the last of the Conestoga Indians were massacred), but it already was an established term, as the first reference is to the name of a Philadelphia tavern, and probably originally meant the type of wagon farmers used on the road from the city to Conestoga. Also a breed of horses (1824) and a type of boot and cigar (see stogie).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper