▪ I. hearse, n.
(hɜːs)
Forms: 4–5 heers(e, 5 heerce, 5–6 hers, 5–6 (9) herce, 6 hearce, herst, 7 hierce, 4–9 herse, 6– hearse.
[Formerly herse, a. F. herse (12th c. in Littré) = It. erpice:—L. hirpic-em (hirpex) large rake used as a harrow; ? cf. Gr. ἅρπαξ grappling-iron. See herse, under which the sense ‘harrow’ and its immediately derived senses are treated.]
† 1. a. A triangular frame somewhat similar in form to the ancient harrow, designed to carry candles, and used at the service of Tenebræ in Holy Week. b. A candlestick used at the Benedictio ignis on Easter Eve. Obs.
| [1287 Synod of Exeter xii. in Wilkins Conc. (1737) II. 139 Vas ad aquam benedictam. Hercia ad tenebras.] 1563 Inv. Chr. Ch., Canterb. (Chapter Libr. Canterb.), Item a heade for the hearse of coper and gylte to carrye the iij. lyghts to the fier vppon Estereuen. |
2. a. An elaborate framework originally intended to carry a large number of lighted tapers and other decorations over the bier or coffin while placed in the church at the funerals of distinguished persons; also called
castrum doloris,
chapelle ardente, or
catafalco.
| [1291 Acc. Executors Q. Eleanor in Gloss. Archit. (1845) I. 199 Pro meremio ad hercias Dominæ Reginæ, apud Westmonasterium.] c 1368 Chaucer Compl. Pite 15 Adown I fell when I sawe the herse, Dede as stone. [1399 Test. Rich. II in Rymer Fœdera VIII. 75 Ita..quod, pro prædictis Exequiis, iv Herciæ..per Executores nostros congrue præparentur.] c 1400 Destr. Troy 8753. a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 3532 By-fore a tombe, that new was dyghte..There-on an herse, sothely to saye, Wyth an C tappers lyghte. 1485 Will in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees) 277 That there be byrnyng on herse v serges, ilkoone of a pownde of waxe. 1526 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., Payd for strykyng of iiij tapers for the herst jd. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 1 b, The body was taken out, and caried into the Quire, and set under a goodly Herce of waxe, garnished with Banners, Pencelles, and Cusshions. a 1678 Marvell Wks. III. 510 And starrs, like tapers, burn'd upon his herse. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles Concl., That one poor garland, twined to deck thy hair, Is hung upon thy hearse, to droop and wither there! 1849 Rock Ch. of Fathers II. vii. 495 There used to be put up in the church a ‘hearse’, which was a lofty framework of wood..with four or eight posts..and ceiled. 1896 Peacock in Andrews Church Gleanings 218 It was the custom in the case of rich families to erect one of these hearses in every church where it [the body] rested for the night. |
b. A permanent framework of iron or other metal, fixed over a tomb to support rich coverings or palls, often adapted to carry lighted tapers.
| 1552 Berksh. Ch. Goods 10 A herse of Irone. 1846 Parker Gloss. Archit. 129 There is a brass frame..over the effigy of Richard, earl of Warwick, in the Beauchamp chapel at Warwick, which is called a herse in the contract for the tomb. 1851 Turner Dom. Archit. II. v. 242 The Sheriff of Southampton is commanded to repair the herces in the king's chapel. 1866 Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture 128 A very graceful iron hearse of this kind..in Tanfield Church. |
c. A temple-shaped structure of wood used in royal and noble funerals, after the earlier kind (2 a) went out of use. It was decorated with banners, heraldic devices, and lighted candles; and it was customary for friends to pin short poems or epitaphs upon it.
| c 1575 J. Hooker Life Sir P. Carew in Archæol. XXVIII. 145 The nexte daye his herse was sett vpe, beinge made after the forme of a felde bedd, covered with blacke..garnyshed with scogeons and with yelowe pynyons full of blacke lyons. 1598 Remembrance of Eng. Poets in Barnfield's Poems (Arb.) 119 Whose Fame is grav'd on Rosamond's blacke Herse. c 1621 ? B. Jonson Epit. C'tess Pembroke, Underneath this sable herse Lyes the subject of all verse. 1639 Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. Unl. xcvii. §962 Gravestones (toombs) and herses are rear'd up, and epitaphs..written on them. 1659 T. Pecke Parnassi Puerp. 119 Shall I to pin upon thy Herse, devise Eternal Praises; or weep Elegies? a 1667 Cowley Voy. W. Harvey Wks. 1710 I. 27 Be this my latest Verse With which I now adorn his Herse. 1898 Andrews Church Treasury 280 The last herse used in this country was the one under which her effigy [that of Mary II] was placed. |
3. A light framework of wood used to support the pall over the body at funerals. It fitted on to the parish bier, and was probably adapted to carry lighted tapers.
| 1566 in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 36 Item a hearse—sold to John Banton..who hathe put it to prophane use. 1896 Peacock in Andrews Church Gleanings 216 Of these hearses, not a single example is known to have come down to our time. |
† 4. A hearse-cloth, a funeral pall.
Obs.| 1530 Palsgr. 230/2 Herce for a deed corse of silke, poille. 1581 W. Stafford Exam. Compl. i. (1876) 16 All other Marchaundize that wee buy from beyond the Sea..and all Hearses, and Tapestry. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1200 This coffin of the great Sultan..covered with a rich hearse of cloth of gold downe to the ground. |
5. A bier; a coffin; vaguely, a tomb, grave.
Obs. or
arch.| 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. ii. 169 Stand from the Hearse, stand from the Body. 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. i. xliv, One touch would rouze me from my sluggish hearse. 1616 Bullokar, Hearse, a buriall coffin couered with blacke. 1623 Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. Ded. xxix, But, wheth'r I live, or be first laid on herse. 1625 ― Du Bartas, Noe 132 As thou my cradle wert, so wilt thou be my herse. 1651 Davenant Gondibert i. v. (R.), When she with flowres lord Arnold's grave shall strew..She on that rival's hearse will drop a few. a 1700 Dryden Meleager 325 Ah! hadst thou died, my son, in infant years, Thy little hearse had been bedewed with tears. 1849 Longfellow Blind Girl iii, Decked with flowers a simple hearse To the churchyard forth they bear. |
† 6. The solemn obsequy in a funeral.
Obs. (Perh. only an error.)
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Nov. 60 O heauie herse [gloss. Herse, is the solemne obsequie in funeralles]. Ibid. 70 The earth now lacks her wonted light, And all we dwell in deadly night, O heauie herse. |
† 7. A dead body, a corpse.
Obs.| 1530 Palsgr. 230/2 Herce, a deed body, corps. 1609 Heywood Brit. Troy iii. lxxxvi. 72 Bold Archas pierses Thrugh the mid-hoast and strewes the way with herses. 1633 May Hen. II, v. 775 Her hearse at Godstow Abbey they enterre. |
8. a. A carriage or car constructed for carrying the coffin at a funeral. (The current use.)
| 1650 B. Discolliminium 2 It is hung about with as many..trappings, as Coll. Rainsboroughs Herse and horse were at his fine Funerals. 1672 Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 245 Thomas Moor hath a hearse..for the carrying of dead corps to any part of England. 1706 Hearne Collect. 4 Dec., He was very decently interr'd, being carried in a Hearse, and the Company in Mourning Coaches. 1722 De Foe Plague (Rtldg.) 35 They saw Herses and Coffins. 1850 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 128 A hearse too, with plenty of plumes, and many black coaches. 1881 Besant & Rich Chapl. Fleet I. 294 A hearse stopped before our door. |
b. transf. A vehicle for carrying pianofortes.
| 1812 Coleridge Lett. II. 584 Musical Instrument Manufacturers, whose grand pianoforte hearses he [a horse] now draws in the streets of London. |
9. Comb., as
hearse-light (see 1, 2);
hearse-driver,
hearse-man,
hearse-plume (sense 8);
hearse-cover, a pall;
hearse-house, a dead-house; a building in which a hearse is kept;
hearse-like a., like a hearse; mournful. Also
hearse-cloth.
| 1885 R. W. Dixon Hist. Ch. Eng. III. 451 Three *hearse-covers..eight stall-cloths. |
| 1829 G. Griffin Collegians III. xxxiii. 60 ‘'Twill be a great funeral,’ said the *hearse-driver. 1841 J. S. Buckingham Amer. II. 322 The Whig authorities of New-Haven, have removed Mr. Willoughby..from the place of hearse⁓driver, and appointed another person in his place. 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick III. xiii. 90 The old hearse⁓driver, he must have been. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 590 Sober hearse-drivers a speciality. |
| 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 101 A vestry, with a *hearse-house beyond it..has been built in modern times. 1895 Pryce Burden of Woman 91 The hearse-house or dead-house of the church (the lowest room of a tower where in old days the bodies of strangers who had lost their way and perished were placed for possible identification pending burial). |
| 1555 Churchw. Acc. St. Helens, Abingdon (Nichols 1797) 141 For making the *herse lyghtes. 1566 in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 127 The sepulcre and herse lightes w{supt} all the bookes of papistrie rent and burned. |
| 1625 Bacon Ess., Adversitie (Arb.) 505 If you Listen to Davids Harpe, you shall heare as many *Herselike Ayres, as Carols. 1839 Bailey Festus xxiii. (1848) 289 It steals Hearselike and thieflike round the universe. |
| 1893 J. W. Barry Stud. in Corsica 170 It [the corpse] is..abandoned to the *hearseman. |
| 1848 Eliza Cook Lines among Leaves viii. 3 Like *hearse-plume waved about. |
▪ II. hearse var. of
hearst n.▪ III. hearse, v. [f. hearse n.] 1. trans. To lay (a corpse) on a bier or in a coffin; to bury with funeral rites and ceremonies.
b. (in recent use) To carry to the grave in a hearse.
| 1592 Nobody & Someb. in Simpson Sch. Shaks. (1878) I. 319 We will forbeare our spleene..till you have hearsd Your husbands bones. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. i. 93 Would she were hearst at my foote, and the duckets in her coffin. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xviii. 199 Then the Grecians spritefully drew from the darts the corse, And hears'd it, bearing it to fleet, his friends with all remorse Marching about it. 1827 Pollok Course T. vii. 295 Richly hearsed With gloomy garniture of purchased wo. 1854 Gilfillan Life Blair in Beattie's, Blair's, etc. Wks. 126 He lashes the proud wicked man whom he sees pompously hearsed into Hell. 1855 Singleton Virgil II. 81 In his own resting place consign him first, And hearse him in the grave. |
c. To enclose or contain as in a bier or tomb; to entomb.
| 1608 Day Hum. out of Br. iii. iv, Please you survey the cell, go in and see, I'me hearst, and none but sorrowe lies with me. 1764 Churchill Ep. to Hogarth 452 Worth may be hears'd but Envy cannot die. 1796 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. II. 489 Shall marble hearse them all? 1819 J. H. Wiffen Aonian Hours (1820) 160 Murmurs deep, not loud, Swelled in the gale when earth thy relics hearsed. |
2. fig. To furnish with something hearse-like.
| 1646 Crashaw Steps to Temple (R.), The house is hers'd about with a black wood, Which nods with many a heavy headed tree. 1864 Longfellow Hawthorne vi, The hill-top hearsed with pines. |
Hence
hearsed ppl. a., placed on, in, or under a hearse.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. iv. 47 Tell Why thy Canoniz'd bones Hearsed in death, Haue burst their cerments. |