post-wagonn.
/ˈpəʊs(t)ˌwaɡ(ə)n/, U.S. /ˈpoʊs(t)ˌwæɡ(ə)n/ Now historical.
A horse-drawn wagon capable of travelling quickly. Also: a wagon used to carry mail; esp. a stagecoach or mail coach.Used chiefly of stage or mail coaches in other European countries, esp. the Netherlands and Germany.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > stagecoach or mail coach
posting carriage1556
wagon1615
post-coach1636
stagecoach1658
flying coach1669
stage1671
wagon-coach1675
stage-wagon1681
post-car1694
post-wagon1694
post calash1703
fly1708
post-carriage1720
post-stage1738
diligence1742
flying machine1764
machine1769
mail coach1785
dilly1786
mail stage1792
high-flyer1799
post-equipage1813
post vehicle1815
tally-ho coach1831
mail packeta1837
flying carriage1849
stager1852
mail-hack1909
1694 W. Penn Acct. Travails Holland & Germany 31 We..begun our Journey in the common Post-waggon to Osnaburg.
1749 T. Nugent Grand Tour I. 42 There is also another carriage, which goes from most of the principal towns, and is called the post-waggon: It is..generally drawn only by three horses, and is as expeditious as our stage-coaches.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. xxii. 334 A chosen detachment was dispached away in post-waggons to secure..the pass of Succi.
1801 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1956) II. 705 The cheapest way is the best; go by the common post waggons, or stage coaches.
1830 W. Taylor Hist. Surv. German Poetry I. 337 Lessing..set off in frost and snow by the post-waggon..for Kamenz.
1870 Appletons' Jrnl. 2 Apr. 382 A post-wagon takes them to the General Post-Office in the Rue Jean Jacques Rousseau.
a1898 H. Bessemer Autobiogr. (1905) vii. 98 You must leave by post-wagon this afternoon.
1962 Jrnl. Rom. Stud. 52 115 Rescript 121, approving the use of the imperial post-wagons by Pliny's wife, follows its counterpart even more closely.
1996 Britannia 27 146 Thus, 720 post-wagons, plus 1,100 post-carriages, plus 500 carts and 660 2-wheelers would be required to deliver the materials over 2.5 working seasons.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1694