hansom

American  

[han-suhm] / ˈhæn səm /

noun

1. a low-hung, two-wheeled, covered vehicle drawn by one horse, for two passengers, with the driver being mounted on an elevated seat behind and the reins running over the roof.

2. any similar horse-drawn vehicle.

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hansom British  

/ ˈhænsəm /

noun

1. Also called: hansom cab.  (sometimes capital) a two-wheeled one-horse carriage with a fixed hood. The driver sits on a high outside seat at the rear

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Etymology

Origin of hansom

1850–55; named after J. A. Hansom (1803–82), English architect who designed it

Example Sentences

Maybe not: A hansom cab struggles through the snowdrifts to deliver the recently widowed Lady Glendenning to 221B Baker Street.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025

Leonard’s chosen genre is the Victorian mystery, whose iconography — sulfurous fog, hansom cabs — had already been fixed in Conan Doyle’s lifetime.

From Washington Post • Jul. 27, 2021

The car cut into Central Park, passing a hansom cab, whose driver shouted, “You’re going against traffic!”

From The New Yorker • Jul. 15, 2019

Previously, the drivers of the horse-drawn hansom cabs had to sit in the open waiting for fares, as they were not allowed to leave their cabs unattended.

From BBC • Aug. 6, 2017

Perhaps it was some lingering disquiet from that unpleasant incident on the train; she found herself backing away from the line of hansom cabs and clutching the children even more tightly than before.

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood