‖ kibitka
(kɪˈbɪtkə)
Also 8–9 -ki, 9 -ke.
[Russ. kibitka, tent, tilt-wagon, f. Tartar kibits, with Russ. suffix -ka: cf. Arab. qubbat ‘tent covered with skins’.]
1. A circular tent made of lattice work and covered with thick felt, used by the Tartars; transf. a Tartar household or family.
| 1799 W. Tooke View Russian Emp. II. 86 The nether horde..consisting of 30,000 kibitkas. 1814 tr. Klaproth's Trav. 162 The Russians determine the number of families by that of the felt jurtes or kibitkes. 1884 E. O'Donovan Story of the Merv v. 55, I was conducted to the kibitka of the village smith. 1899 Daily News 14 Jan. 2/1 His typical studio should be a kibitka of the Steppes. |
2. A Russian wagon or sledge with a rounded cover or hood; a sledge with a tilt or covering.
| 1806 Heber Let. 4 Jan. in Sat. Mag. No. 444. 215/1 We performed the journey in Kibitkas, the carriages usually employed by the Russians in their winter journies. 1823 Byron Juan ix. xxx, There in a kibitka he roll'd on, (A cursed sort of carriage without springs). 1855 Englishwoman in Russia 79 They were hurried off to Siberia, in the prisoners' kabitkas that stood ready to receive them. |