post-chaise, n.
(ˈpəʊst-ʃeɪz)
Also colloq. post-chay, -shay, po'chaise, pochay.
[f. post n.2 + chaise n.]
A travelling carriage, either hired from stage to stage, or drawn by horses so hired: used in the 18th and earlier half of the 19th century.
In England usually having a closed body, seated for from two to four persons, the driver or postilion riding on one of the horses.
| 1712 Lond. Gaz. No. 5027/5 The Earl of Strafford arrived here in a Post-Chaise. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 221 There is scarce any other way of travelling from Geneva to Italy than in post-chaises which will hold two persons, with a covering over head, and room for two trunks behind: they have but two wheels. 1757 F. Greville Maxims, Char. & Refl. 19 He was told of the late invention of post-chays, of their great expedition, conveniency and cheapness. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xlvii, Kit's mother and the single gentleman,..speeding onward in the post-chaise-and-four. 1889 G. Findlay Eng. Railway 3 At the commencement of the present century..communication between the smaller towns was by post-chaises..for the wealthy. |
| attrib. 1763 Stone in Phil. Trans. LIII. 197 Cases where the patient..caught cold, as a post-chaise boy did. 1794 W. Felton Carriages I. 8 A Chariot or Post-Chaise body. These bodies differ not in the least... By the addition of a coach-box to the carriage-part, they are called Chariots. |
Hence
post-chaise v. intr.,
colloq., to travel by post-chaise;
trans. to convey in or carry off in a post-chaise.
rare.
| 1854 Thackeray Newcomes xv, The Colonel delighted in post-chaising—the rapid transit through the country amused him, and cheered his spirits. 1871 [see po'chaise]. |