Meaning & use
horsecar
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableold-fashioned
A railroad car or streetcar pulled by horses, used for public transport before electric power.
Grammar: Countable: a horsecar, two horsecars; it is a historical term, so it usually appears with past tenses.
Patterns
- ride a horsecar
- a line of horsecars
In the 1880s, a horsecar carried passengers along this street.
The museum keeps an old horsecar that once ran downtown.
Word forms
| plural | horsecars |
|---|
Common combinations
- a horsecar line
- The city built its first horsecar line in 1859.
- ride a horsecar
- Visitors can ride a horsecar at the transport museum.
- horsecar service
- Horsecar service ended when electric streetcars arrived.
- an old horsecar
- An old horsecar stands on display beside the station.
Synonyms and how they differ
- streetcar
- A general word for a city rail vehicle; it can be horse-drawn or electric, so it is less specific.
- tram
- The usual British word for a streetcar; like 'streetcar' it does not say what pulled it.
Word family
- horse-drawn adjective
- Pulled by a horse or horses, as many vehicles once were.
Commonly confused: horsecar or horse car?
horsecar vs horse car
Written as two words, this can also mean a railroad car for transporting horses, so the one-word form is clearer for the passenger vehicle.
Practice
What does 'horsecar' mean?
Choose one answer.
A horsecar is a passenger streetcar pulled by horses. It is not a car for transporting horses (that is a horse car or horse box), nor a racing carriage or a powerful engine.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “horsecar”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.