| 释义 |
stage-coach
[stage n. 9.]
a. A coach that runs daily or on specified days between two places for the conveyance of passengers, parcels, etc.
1658Mercurius Politicus 1 Apr. 433 From the 26 day of April 1658, there will continue to go Stage Coaches from the George Inn. 1666Pepys Diary 26 Feb., Kate Joyce, in a stage-coach going towards London, called to me. 1781Cowper Retirem. 492 And, if a shower approach, You find safe shelter in the next stage-coach. 1812Examiner 28 Dec. 827/2 A stage-coach..usually carries six inside passengers, and is drawn by four horses. 1881Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fl. (1883) i. iii. 17 We came to the roadside inn where the stage-coach changed horses.
b. U.S. ? The name of a game in which the players scramble for new places.
1831Boston Transcript 2 Aug. 2/3 The entertainment happened to be the ‘Stage Coach’, which was acted so wretchedly that it was impossible to make head or tail of it. 1872‘S. Coolidge’ What Katy Did (1873) v. 89 They all fell to playing ‘Stage-coach’..in spite of close quarters and an occasional bump. 1892Nation (N.Y.) 24 Nov. 397/3 What happened on the demise of the Grand Prince resembled a game of ‘stage-coach’, with swords thrown in.
c. attrib.
1791O'Keeffe Wild Oats ii. iii, They've got your name down to the *stage-coach book.
1803Censor 1 Mar. 27 A *stage-coach conveyance.
1840Dickens Old C. Shop xlvi, They allowed me..outside *stage-coach hire all the way.
1838Penny Cycl. XII. 309/1 The horse of quick work, the *stage-coach horse and the poster.
1749Smollett Gil Blas ii. iii. ⁋2 The clerk of a *stage-coach office registers those who take places.
Hence stage-coaching vbl. n., the running or driving of stage-coaches (also attrib.); travelling by stage-coach. stage-coachman, the driver (also † the proprietor) of a stage-coach.
1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 349 The vetturini, or stage-coachman, must..not go out of the country without a pass. 1757Ld. Mansfield in Burrow Settlem. Cases (1768) II. 424 This..is no more than the Case of the Oxford Stage-Coachman's Servant who gained a Settlement in Chipping-Wicomb. 1837Dickens Pickw. lv, They..wore as many clothes as possible, which is..a stage-coachman's idea of full dress. 1844― Mart. Chuz. xiii, A large stage-coaching establishment. 1856Olmsted Slave States ix. 547 Partly by rail and partly by rapid stage-coaching..I crossed the State. 1884Sala Journ. South (1887) i. viii. 108 The virtual state of perfection to which English stage-coaching had attained. |