hearse Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a vehicle for carrying a coffin to a church or a cemetery; formerly drawn by horses but now usually a motor vehicle

WordNet

Hearse noun
Etymology
Etymol. uncertain.
Definitions
  1. A hind in the year of its age. Eng. Wright.
Hearse noun
Etymology
See Herse.
Definitions
  1. A framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax lights and set up in a church, under which the coffin was placed during the funeral ceremonies. Obs. Oxf. Gloss.
  2. A grave, coffin, tomb, or sepulchral monument. Archaic "Underneath this marble hearse." B. Johnson.
    Beside the hearse a fruitful palm tree grows. Fairfax
    Who lies beneath this sculptured hearse. Longfellow.
  3. A bier or handbarrow for conveying the dead to the grave. Obs.
    Set down, set down your honorable load, It honor may be shrouded in a hearse. Shak.
  4. A carriage specially adapted or used for conveying the dead to the grave.
Hearse transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To inclose in a hearse; to entomb. Obs. "Would she were hearsed at my foot." Shak.

Webster 1913