‖ tonneau
(ˈtɒnəʊ)
[F. tonneau, specific application of tonneau cask, tun: see tonnel.]
1. The rounded rear body of a motor-car (orig. with the door at the back); the rear part of a car with front and rear compartments or of an open car. Also, a car having a tonneau. Hence tonneau cover, a removable, flexible cover for protecting the rear or passenger seats in an open car when they are not in use; also transf.
| 1901 Daily Record & Mail 26 Dec. 7 The tonneau, which is of the roomiest and most comfortable description, is designed to hold six passengers. 1904 Kipling Traffics & Discov. 322 She knelt at the bottom of the tonneau telling her beads without pause. 1905 A. M. Binstead Mop Fair 118 With the entrancing little green tonneau which a railway rustic delivered..next morning, it was entirely different. So winsome was the diminutive car [etc.]. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 19 Mar. 4/2 A good tonneau seat is as comfortable as anyone could wish. 1931 Garrard & Geddes Practical Motoring 643/1 Tonneau. The rear part of an open four or five seater motor car body was at one time commonly referred to as the tonneau but this term is now rarely used by itself. When the front seats only are used, a special cover known as the tonneau cover is sometimes stretched across the whole of the rear part. 1976 Glasgow Herald 26 Nov. 21/6 (Advt.), 16ft cabin cruiser... Complete with tonneau cover and canopy, {pstlg}3000. 1978 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 1 Apr. 45 That leaves London [taxis]. Ah, how civilized... There is room in the tonneau for five, with two on jump seats. 1979 J. Leasor Love & Land Beyond vi. 88 Victoria brought the plane down... Love helped her batten down tonneau covers over the two cockpits. 1980 Times 1 Nov. 14/3 (caption) During the 1975 run, an 1898 Daimler wagonette..overtakes a 1903 de Dietrich tonneau. 1981 West Lancs. Evening Gaz. 25 Feb. 15 (Advt.), Sports boat.., complete with trailer, tonneau cover, etc. |
2. (A gallicism.) A barrel or cask; a measure of capacity for wine, equal to one tun (198 gallons).
| 1794 A. Young Trav. France (ed. 2) I. xviii. 535 Wine has increased in its export to England..; before the treaty it was 8000 tonneaux a year. 1851 [see queue n. 6]. 1978 S. Sheldon Bloodline iv. 69 We should get three hundred thousand francs a tonneau for the first pressings. |
Hence ˈtonneaued a.: of a motor-car, having a tonneau.
| 1904 Kipling Traffics & Discov. 200 It was a big, black, black-dashed, tonneaued twenty-four horse Octopod [motor-car]. |