hearse

views updated May 21 2018

hearse, herce, herse.
1. Falling door of grated construction, i.e. portcullis.

2. Horizontal grating, flat or curved, fixed with prickets for candles to commemorate the dead.

3. Open metal framework over a sepulchral memorial, usually to support the pall, as in the Beauchamp chapel, St Mary's Church, Warwick. An iron hearse, with prickets, survives over the Marmion tomb in St Nicholas's Church, West Tanfield, Yorks. (c.1387).

A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture JAMES STEVENS CURL

hearse

views updated Jun 08 2018

hearse / hərs/ • n. a vehicle for conveying the coffin at a funeral.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

hearse

views updated May 23 2018

hearse structure placed over a bier at a funeral XIV; †bier, coffin, grave XVII; funeral carriage XVII. — (O)F. herse harrow, triangular frame for candles :- medL. erpica, Rom. *herpica, for L. (h)irpex, (h)irpic- kind of harrow.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD