stage-coach
[stage n. 9.]
a. A coach that runs daily or on specified days between two places for the conveyance of passengers, parcels, etc.
| 1658 Mercurius Politicus 1 Apr. 433 From the 26 day of April 1658, there will continue to go Stage Coaches from the George Inn. 1666 Pepys Diary 26 Feb., Kate Joyce, in a stage-coach going towards London, called to me. 1781 Cowper Retirem. 492 And, if a shower approach, You find safe shelter in the next stage-coach. 1812 Examiner 28 Dec. 827/2 A stage-coach..usually carries six inside passengers, and is drawn by four horses. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fl. (1883) i. iii. 17 We came to the roadside inn where the stage-coach changed horses. |
b. U.S. ? The name of a game in which the players scramble for new places.
| 1831 Boston Transcript 2 Aug. 2/3 The entertainment happened to be the ‘Stage Coach’, which was acted so wretchedly that it was impossible to make head or tail of it. 1872 ‘S. Coolidge’ What Katy Did (1873) v. 89 They all fell to playing ‘Stage-coach’..in spite of close quarters and an occasional bump. 1892 Nation (N.Y.) 24 Nov. 397/3 What happened on the demise of the Grand Prince resembled a game of ‘stage-coach’, with swords thrown in. |
c. attrib.| 1791 O'Keeffe Wild Oats ii. iii, They've got your name down to the *stage-coach book. |
| 1803 Censor 1 Mar. 27 A *stage-coach conveyance. |
| 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xlvi, They allowed me..outside *stage-coach hire all the way. |
| 1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 309/1 The horse of quick work, the *stage-coach horse and the poster. |
| 1749 Smollett Gil Blas ii. iii. ¶2 The clerk of a *stage-coach office registers those who take places. |
Hence
stage-coaching vbl. n., the running or driving of stage-coaches (also
attrib.); travelling by stage-coach.
stage-coachman, the driver (also
† the proprietor) of a stage-coach.
| 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 349 The vetturini, or stage-coachman, must..not go out of the country without a pass. 1757 Ld. Mansfield in Burrow Settlem. Cases (1768) II. 424 This..is no more than the Case of the Oxford Stage-Coachman's Servant who gained a Settlement in Chipping-Wicomb. 1837 Dickens Pickw. lv, They..wore as many clothes as possible, which is..a stage-coachman's idea of full dress. 1844 ― Mart. Chuz. xiii, A large stage-coaching establishment. 1856 Olmsted Slave States ix. 547 Partly by rail and partly by rapid stage-coaching..I crossed the State. 1884 Sala Journ. South (1887) i. viii. 108 The virtual state of perfection to which English stage-coaching had attained. |