charabanc

plural charabancs · alternative obsolete char-à-banc

1. UKhistoricalA horse-drawn, and then later, motorized omnibus with open sides, and often, no roof.

   And full of colored dreams / Deep inside a rainbow / Lived Happiness Stan / In a small Victorian charabanc

   1968, “Happiness Stan”, in Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, performed by Small Faces

   2 more examples

   A little further on, to the right, was a large garage, where the charabancs stood, half in and half out of the yard.

   1931, Francis Beeding, “2/2”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps

   The cumbersome though finely painted charabanc of the late James style is pulled swaying along by a frisky pony of a plot farcical and romantic.

   2006 Aug 7 & 14, John Updike, “Late Works”, in The New Yorker, page 70

   Synonyms: chara

2. UKdatedA bus, especially one hired by groups for pleasure outings, what was later called a coach.

   Oh shit, there goes the charabanc! Looks like I'm gonna be stuck here the whole summer

   1977, “Peaches”, performed by the Stranglers

   1 more example

   Mum had worked there as a teenager and once recalled her duty of having to meet the charabancs that brought the well-heeled to the baths from Droitwich station before the war.

   2023 February 22, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 977, page 71

3. UKinformalA vehicle that is slow, overcrowded, or otherwise undesirable.

   Just as I'm thinking my plan has failed an old charabanc of a vehicle slows down and starts hooting.

   2011, Fi Glover, Travels With My Radio: I Am An Oil Tanker

   4 more examples

   We return to the charabanc of a car to find a swarm of children dancing round it, clambering up the back, jumping on the step; the driver sleeps peacefully at the wheel, oblivious of their shrieks.

   1951, Ethel Mannin, South to Samarkand, page 109

   It was lucky therefore that I kept an eye on the quayside blackboard by the stern of the "Patmos Star", a charabanc of a daytrip boat that was to transport me and my bags to the tiny island of Lipsí, a short hop from Patmos.

   2011, Harry Bucknall, In The Dolphin's Wake

   […] but Mark has never even sat on a motorbike, let alone ridden one before and certainly not with a rowboat attached and a spasmatic dog riding pillion. It was nice to see that there was stillsome good old-fashioned British embarrassment left, as straggling past Philippe with a muttered "Au revoir, Breton.", we pushed the whole charabanc a mile up the road until there was no sign of habitation; in France even the lamp-posts have eyes.

   2014, Laura Tong, Mark Tong, The Dog's Rollocks

   The lantern got closer until eventually the sound, smell and heat of dogs was upon them, and a train of huskies stopped in a great cloud of steam. The whole charabanc emitted a strong smell of hot stew, which my mum remembers as the most heavenly thing she had ever smelt.

   2022, Jacques Peretti, Little Bird of Auschwitz

4. An elaborate production or endeavor involving many people or things.

   Nevertheless, I felt responsible. I'd started the whole charabanc. It was my band.

   2018, Alan Longmuir, Martin Knight, I Ran With The Gang: My Life In and Out of the Bay City Rollers

   3 more examples

   For all their lean and hungry look, and for all they wear the simplest of dhotis around their loins, they usually have clever accomplices in the crowd, and a whole charabanc full of invisible wires and concealed cabinets.

   2013, David Ovason, The Zelator

   He comes along all dressed up in the real deal costume, all the sequins and rhinestone, the heavyweight boxing belt, the cape, the whole charabanc, you know?

   2013, R.J. Ellory, The R. J. Ellory Collection

   Schuman's European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, which set the whole charabanc rolling, operated in the interests of producers.

   2014, Dennis Skinner, Kevin Maguire, Sailing Close to the Wind: Reminiscences

present singular third person charabancs · participle present charabancing · participle past charabanced · past charabanced · alternative obsolete char-à-banc

1. ambitransitiverareTo travel or convey by charabanc.