cartwain

English

Etymology

From cart +‎ wain, perhaps from Middle English *cartwain, continuing Old English crætwæġn (“wagon, chariot”).

Noun

cartwain (plural cartwains)

  1. (rare) A wagon using for hauling loads.
    • 1811, James Martin Hosking, To America and Back, published 1970:
      Poor Pascoe's naked body he espies,
      Behind the cartwain, as he casts his eyes; […]
    • 1876, Robert Williams, Seint Graal, page 594:
      And as soon as he came to the bridge, it was so wide that two cartwains could go along side by side; and Gwalchmei wondered at seeing the bridge, which he had seen so small before that, now so large as that.
    • 1891, Sir John Rhys, Studies in the Arthurian Legend, page 56:
      He did so, and no sooner had the horse stepped on it than it became wide enough for two cartwains to cross side by side in this respect it resembled much more closely the Bridge of the Souls in the Irish visions alluded to.
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