hearse
English edit
Pronunciation edit
- enPR: hûrs
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /hɜːs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /hɝs/
Audio (UK) (file) - Homophone: herse
- Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)s
Etymology 1 edit
From Middle English herse, hers, herce, from Old French herce, from Medieval Latin hercia, from Latin herpicem, hirpex; ultimately from Oscan 𐌇𐌉𐌓𐌐𐌖𐌔 (hirpus, “wolf”), a reference to the teeth, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“stiff, rigid, bristled”).[1] The Oscan term is related to Latin hīrsūtus (“bristly, shaggy”). Doublet of hirsute.
Alternative forms edit
- herse (obsolete)
Noun edit
hearse (plural hearses)
- A framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax lights and set up in a church, under which the coffin was placed during the funeral ceremonies.
- A grave, coffin, tomb, or sepulchral monument.
- 1621, Ben Jonson, Epitath to Mary Herbert:
- underneath this sable hearse
- 1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Third Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC:
- Beside the hearse a fruitful palm tree grows,
- 1882, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, To the Avon:
- who lies beneath this sculptured hearse
- A bier or handbarrow for conveying the dead to the grave.
- c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- Set down, set down your honourable load, / If honour may be shrouded in a hearse.
- A carriage or vehicle specially adapted or used for transporting a dead person to the place of funeral or to the grave.
Translations edit
framework placed over coffin or tomb
grave, coffin, tomb
bier or handbarrow for carrying the dead
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vehicle for transporting dead
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hind on her second year
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References edit
- “hearse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “hearse”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “hearse”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “445-46”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 445-46
Verb edit
hearse (third-person singular simple present hearses, present participle hearsing, simple past and past participle hearsed)
- (dated) To enclose in a hearse; to entomb.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
- I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear! would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin!
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
hearse (plural hearses)