Dictionary

Black Maria en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /blæk məˈɹaɪə/

Etymology

Unknown, though such vans were traditionally painted black. First attested in the 1830s.

Meanings

1. (slang) A police van for transporting prisoners.
   • The Upper Ten Thousand have plenty of cash— At the Central Park, on the “Drive,” cut a dash; They have their light wagons, fast horses beside; In the free “Black Maria” the Lower Ten ride. 1867, Tony Pastor, “The Upper and Lower Ten Thousand”, in Tony Pastor’s Book of Six Hundred Comic Songs and Speeches:
   • You know it means no mercy / They caught him with a gun / No need for the Black Maria / Goodbye to the Brixton sun 1979, Paul Simonon, “The Guns of Brixton”, performed by The Clash:

Forms

Relateds

police vehicle · black and white

Synonyms

paddy wagon

Translations (13)

ru вороно́к (a police van for transporting prisoners) · pl suka (a police van for transporting prisoners) · de grüne Minna (a police van for transporting prisoners) · ru чёрная Мару́ся (a police van for transporting prisoners) · sv Svarta Maja (a police van for transporting prisoners) · fi mustamaija (a police van for transporting prisoners) · mk марица (a police van for transporting prisoners) · no svartemarje (a police van for transporting prisoners) · pl radiowóz (a police van for transporting prisoners) · fi maija (a police van for transporting prisoners) · ru тюре́мная каре́та (a police van for transporting prisoners) · da salatfad (a police van for transporting prisoners) · ru чёрный во́рон (a police van for transporting prisoners)