noun
hearse
HURS/hɜːrs/
A vehicle used to carry a coffin at a funeral.
The hearse carries the coffin from the church to the cemetery.
Etymology
The harrow gave its name to a candle framework over a coffin because the framework resembled that farming tool. The name later extended to other funeral frameworks and then to the vehicle carrying the dead.
In context
all of whom had been slain were put in a hearse to be conveyed for interment to a chapel
More examples
- The pallbearers carefully slide the coffin into the hearse.
- Family members follow the hearse in their cars.
- The funeral home keeps two hearses in its garage.
Forms
hearse · hearses
Similar words
- funeral coach
- A more formal term for the same kind of vehicle.