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DictionarytumbrelTwo-wheeled cart
noun

tumbrel

TUM-brul/ˈtʌmbrəl/

A two-wheeled cart for carrying loads.

A horse pulls a two-wheeled tumbrel carrying prisoners toward the guillotine.

A horse-drawn, two-wheeled wooden cart carries bound condemned prisoners toward a clearly visible guillotine in Revolutionary France.
Etymology
tumbrelOld Frenchtipping cart

The ancestor named a cart designed to tip backward and dump its load. Such carts became notorious for carrying condemned prisoners to the guillotine, giving the word its execution-related sense.

In context

Libranima190:16
The gibbet on the Grève, you know it? it stands always ready. It is horrible! to see you ride in that tumbrel!
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame - Hugo (Illustrated Audiobook) Part 2 of 2

More examples

  • The farmer loads the tumbrel with sacks of grain.
  • Workers haul refuse away in tumbrels.
  • The tumbrel tips backward to empty its load.

Forms

tumbrel · tumbrels

Similar words

cart
A broader term for wheeled vehicles used to carry loads.
wagon
Usually has four wheels rather than a tumbrel's two.