charabanc

English

WOTD – 9 November 2009

horse-drawn charabanc, 19th c.

motorized charabanc, 1920s

Alternative forms

• char-à-banc (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from French char-à-bancs (literally “carriage with benches”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈʃæ.ɹə.bæŋ(k)/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Noun

charabanc (plural charabancs)

1. (British, historical) A horse-drawn, and then later, motorized omnibus with open sides, and often, no roof.

   Synonym: (short form) chara

   • 1931, Francis Beeding, “2/2”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps‎^[1]:

     A little further on, to the right, was a large garage, where the charabancs stood, half in and half out of the yard.

   • 1968, “Happiness Stan”, in Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, performed by Small Faces:

     And full of colored dreams / Deep inside a rainbow / Lived Happiness Stan / In a small Victorian charabanc

   • 2006 Aug 7 & 14, John Updike, “Late Works”, in The New Yorker, page 70:

     The cumbersome though finely painted charabanc of the late James style is pulled swaying along by a frisky pony of a plot farcical and romantic.

2. (British, old-fashioned) A bus, especially one hired by groups for pleasure outings, what was later called a coach.
   • 2023 February 22, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 977, page 71:

     Mum had worked there as a teenager and once recalled her duty of having to meet the charabancs that brought the well-heeled to the baths from Droitwich station before the war.

3. (British, informal) A vehicle that is slow, overcrowded, or otherwise undesirable.
   • 1951, Ethel Mannin, South to Samarkand, page 109:

     We return to the charabanc of a car to find a swarm of children dancing round it, clambering up the back, jumping on the step; the driver sleeps peacefully at the wheel, oblivious of their shrieks.

   • 2011, Fi Glover, Travels With My Radio: I Am An Oil Tanker:

     Just as I'm thinking my plan has failed an old charabanc of a vehicle slows down and starts hooting.

   • 2011, Harry Bucknall, In The Dolphin's Wake:

     It was lucky therefore that I kept an eye on the quayside blackboard by the stern of the "Patmos Star", a charabanc of a daytrip boat that was to transport me and my bags to the tiny island of Lipsí, a short hop from Patmos.

   • 2014, Laura Tong, Mark Tong, The Dog's Rollocks:

     […] but Mark has never even sat on a motorbike, let alone ridden one before and certainly not with a rowboat attached and a spasmatic dog riding pillion. It was nice to see that there was stillsome good old-fashioned British embarrassment left, as straggling past Philippe with a muttered "Au revoir, Breton.", we pushed the whole charabanc a mile up the road until there was no sign of habitation; in France even the lamp-posts have eyes.

   • 2022, Jacques Peretti, Little Bird of Auschwitz:

     The lantern got closer until eventually the sound, smell and heat of dogs was upon them, and a train of huskies stopped in a great cloud of steam. The whole charabanc emitted a strong smell of hot stew, which my mum remembers as the most heavenly thing she had ever smelt.

4. An elaborate production or endeavor involving many people or things.
   • 2013, David Ovason, The Zelator:

     For all their lean and hungry look, and for all they wear the simplest of dhotis around their loins, they usually have clever accomplices in the crowd, and a whole charabanc full of invisible wires and concealed cabinets.

   • 2013, R.J. Ellory, The R. J. Ellory Collection:

     He comes along all dressed up in the real deal costume, all the sequins and rhinestone, the heavyweight boxing belt, the cape, the whole charabanc, you know?

   • 2014, Dennis Skinner, Kevin Maguire, Sailing Close to the Wind: Reminiscences:

     Schuman's European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, which set the whole charabanc rolling, operated in the interests of producers.

   • 2018, Alan Longmuir, Martin Knight, I Ran With The Gang: My Life In and Out of the Bay City Rollers:

     Nevertheless, I felt responsible. I'd started the whole charabanc. It was my band.

Translations

a horse-drawn, and then later, motorized omnibus with open sides, and often, no roof

• Danish: charabanc c
• French: char-à-bancs (fr) m
• Norman: char à bancs m
• Russian: шараба́н (ru) m (šarabán)
• Swedish: charabang (sv) c

Verb

charabanc (third-person singular simple present charabancs, present participle charabancing, simple past and past participle charabanced)

1. (rare, transitive, intransitive) To travel or convey by charabanc.

Further reading

• charabanc on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Charabanc”, in World Wide Words.

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French char-à-bancs (“a carriage with benches”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sjarəbanɡ/, [ɕɑɑˈb̥ɑŋ]

Noun

charabanc c (singular definite charabancen or charabanc'en, plural indefinite charabancer or charabanc'er)

1. charabanc

Inflection

Declension of charabanc

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	charabanc	charabancen charabanc'en	charabancer charabanc'er	charabancerne charabanc'erne
genitive	charabancs	charabancens charabanc'ens	charabancers charabanc'ers	charabancernes charabanc'ernes