Dictionary

Conestoga wagon en · NOUN

Etymology

From the Conestoga River in Pennsylvania, USA, whose settlers presumably developed early forms.

Meanings

1. A heavy covered wagon with a curved boatlike body popular in the United States from about 1750–1850.
   • During the summer and fall the covered broad-wheeled Conestoga wagons, moved by four or six splendid draught-horses, were constantly employed in transporting the productions of the county to market. 1866, Stewart Pearce, Annals of Luzerne County: A Record of Interesting Events, Traditions, and Anecdotes, J. B. Lippincott & Co., page 344:
   • The heavy and boat-shaped Conestoga wagon should not be confused with the lighter and cheaper prairie schooners that largely replaced them.

Forms

Relateds

prairie schooner

Synonyms

Conestoga · Dutch wagon · Conestoga wain