Dictionary

cartwain en · NOUN

Etymology

From cart + wain, perhaps from Middle English *cartwain, continuing Old English crætwæġn (“wagon, chariot”).

Meanings

1. (rare) A wagon using for hauling loads.
   • He did so, and no sooner had the horse stepped on it than it became wide enough for two cartwains to cross side by side in this respect it resembled much more closely the Bridge of the Souls in the Irish visions alluded to. 1891, Sir John Rhys, Studies in the Arthurian Legend, page 56:
   • Poor Pascoe's naked body he espies, Behind the cartwain, as he casts his eyes; […] 1811, James Martin Hosking, To America and Back, published 1970:
   • And as soon as he came to the bridge, it was so wide that two cartwains could go along side by side; and Gwalchmei wondered at seeing the bridge, which he had seen so small before that, now so large as that. 1876, Robert Williams, Seint Graal, page 594:

Forms