Tarantass
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A low horse-drawn carriage without springs used in Russia, capable of having its wheels replaced with runners during the winter.
"Three kinds of conveyances are available: the telega, or cart without springs, which has to be changed at every station, and for which a charge of about 8d. is made at every stage; the kibitka, or cart (in winter a sledge) with a hood; and the tarantas, a kind of carriage on wooden springs, which admits of the traveller lying down full length, and which can be made very comfortable at night."
Example
More examples"Three kinds of conveyances are available: the telega, or cart without springs, which has to be changed at every station, and for which a charge of about 8d. is made at every stage; the kibitka, or cart (in winter a sledge) with a hood; and the tarantas, a kind of carriage on wooden springs, which admits of the traveller lying down full length, and which can be made very comfortable at night."
Etymology
From Russian таранта́с (tarantás).
Related phrases
More for "tarantass"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.