prairie schooner

American  

noun

1. a type of covered wagon, similar to but smaller than the Conestoga wagon, used by pioneers in crossing the prairies and plains of North America.

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prairie schooner British  

noun

1. a horse-drawn covered wagon similar to but smaller than a Conestoga wagon, used in the 19th century to cross the prairies of North America

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Etymology

Origin of prairie schooner

First recorded in 1835–45

Compare meaning

How does prairie-schooner compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• prairie schooner vs. Conestoga wagon

Example Sentences

The most common wagon was the prairie schooner.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2012

Good shot: Mary, her hair disarrayed by the wind, snuggling up to John for a kiss, in the front seat of a prairie schooner.

From Time Magazine Archive

For about $800, a family of four rides a prairie schooner driven by a hired hand, with stops along the trail to investigate the Smoky Hill River or the surrounding hills.

From Time Magazine Archive

There it will begin tests that will culminate in flights that could do for space colonization what the prairie schooner and the railroads did for the settling of America.

From Time Magazine Archive

Their grub-waggon followed them, and shortly after Lem got his horses harnessed, and he, Jeff, and Jack, taking their places in their prairie schooner, rolled on once more towards the mountains.

From Left on the Prairie by Cox, M. B.