velocipede Now Hist.
(vɪˈlɒsɪpiːd)
[ad. F. vélocipède, f. L. vēlōci-, vēlox swift + ped-, pēs foot.]
1. a. = dandy-horse, hobby n.1 4, hobby-horse n. 5. Obs. exc. Hist.
| 1818 W. Sewall Diary 19 June (1930) 53/2 Then I went to the circus and rode on the velocipede, which is a new machine. 1819 Monthly Mag. March 156 A machine called the Velocipede, or Swift Walker. Invented by Baron Drais and patented in England by Denis Johnson, coachmaker, of Long Acre, in 1818. 1819 Keats Lett. (1895) 300 The nothing of the day is a machine called the velocipede. It is a wheel carriage to ride cock-horse upon, sitting astride and pushing it along with the toes, a rudder-wheel in hand. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 209 He never proceeded with his machine at a greater rate than five miles an hour, and yet named it Velocipede. 1839 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 242/1 The horse will take longer steps, and longer springs or leaps,..in the same way as a man upon a velocipede. 1850 in Ogilvie. |
† b. A kind of roller-skate.
Obs.| 1825 Mech. Mag. V. 79 A Velocipede intended to be fixed on one foot;..the velocipedestrian pushes himself away with the other. |
2. A travelling-machine having wheels turned by the pressure of the feet upon pedals;
esp. an early form of the bicycle or tricycle, a ‘bone-shaker’. Now
rare. (Quot. 1853 may belong to sense 1.)
| 1849–50 Weale Dict. Terms s.v. 1851 Catal. Grt. Exhib. v. No. 991, Velocipede, consisting of three wheels. 1853 R. S. Surtees Soapey Sp. Tour (1893) 369 He is riding a miserable rat of a badly-clipped mouse-coloured pony, that looks like a velocipede under him. 1868 G. Duff Pol. Surv. 126 The unprecedented reaction is moving on with the swiftness of a velocipede. 1886 Cyclist Touring Club Gaz. IV. 146 Bicycles, tricycles, and other velocipedes. Ibid. 149 Every cyclist using a velocipede. |
3. transf. a. Applied to persons.
| 1822 New Monthly Mag. VI. 344 In the Ballet we have nothing new to report. M. Paul, a true velocipede, continues to electrify the astonished spectators. 1891 Meredith One of our Conq. xvi, He's a worthy little velocipede, as Fenellan calls him. |
b. A swift-moving vehicle.
| 1838 Blackw. Mag. XLIII. 340 Stage-coaches..were not the velocipedes that they now are. 1842 R. Ford in Smiles Publisher & Friends (1891) II. 491, I read Borrow with great delight all the way down per rail, and it shortened the rapid flight of that velocipede. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
velocipede carriage,
velocipede-crank,
velocipede traffic,
velocipede velocity,
velocipede-wise adv.| 1819 Gentl. Mag. LXXXIX. i. 423 With our heavy population, Velocipede carriages may hereafter be substituted..worked by two or more men. 1839 Blackw. Mag. XLVI. 39 The rush of waiters hurrying with velocipede velocity in opposite directions. 1869 H. Bushnell Wom. S. viii. 178 He sings velocipede-wise, turning the crank himself. 1870 Belgravia Feb. 444 A paddle-wheel..furnished with velocipede-cranks. |
Hence
velociˈpedean,
veˈlocipeder,
= velocipedist.
velocipeˈdestrian a.,
= velocipedic a.;
n. one who uses a velocipede (see sense 1 b above); also
velocipeˈdestrianism, the practice of using the velocipede.
velociˈpedian,
= velocipedist.
velociˈpedic a., of or pertaining to velocipedes.
veˈlocipeding vbl. n., the action or practice of using a velocipede.
veˈlocipedist [
ad. F.
vélocipédiste], one who rides a velocipede.
| 1842 Howitt Vis. Remark. Places Ser. ii. 431 He was a very adroit *Velocipedean. 1869 Daily News 9 March, As the bicycles gained the open country the velocipedeans began to work in earnest. |
| 1819 Sporting Mag. IV. 39 A *Velocipeder presented himself at a turnpike, and demanded, ‘What's to pay?’ |
| 1869 Sci. Amer. 13 Feb. 101 The votaries of *Velocipedestrian Science. |
| Ibid. 9 Jan. 25 *Velocipedestrianism, a word coined for the times, is easier to learn than skating. 1869 Echo 3 Dec., The invention of the crank-axled machine gave a great impulse to velocipedestrianism. |
| 1869 Velocipede (N.Y.) April 20 A *velocipedian, after a fair amount of experience, finds himself..at home astride his two-wheeler. |
| 1892 Times 21 April 5/5 Dr. Mussy, spokesman of the *Velocipedic Union, dwelt on the advantages of cycling to school-boys, tourists, and soldiers. |
| 1869 Velocipede (N.Y.) April 21 *Velocipeding is a hopeful sign of progress. 1886 W. J. Tucker E. Europe 109 Just like that velocipeding and Danube-boating at Pesth! |
| 1820 Williams Hist. Acc. Invent. II. 486 The rest afforded to the *velocipedist between his steps which set the machine in motion, enables him to proceed much quicker. 1868 Lond. Soc. Nov. 408 The velocipedists have stolen a march on the coming flying man. 1885 Pall Mall G. 28 April 10/2 The ‘St. Petersburg Society of Amateur Velocipedists’. |