[Vwoolf] Carriage problems in the OED

[Stuart N. Clarke]

“In the station yard at Wittering, Mrs Chinnery’s old victoria stood waiting. The train was late; it was very hot. William the gardener sat on the box in his buff-coloured coat with the plated buttons flicking the flies off. The flies were troublesome. They had gathered in little brown clusters on the horses’ ears. He flicked his whip; the old mare stamped her hoofs; and shook her ears, for the flies had settled again. It was very hot. The sun beat down on the station yard, on the carts and flies and traps waiting for the train.”
(1911, “The Years”)

Now that we’ve mastered the gig, are we all clear about a victoria?
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_(carriage)__;!!KGKeukY!3z4La-qbUBtGG6iU0epalTBMI6oDKzaBi_TAdnt6wRfqHUSoOmPB6QWvTQH-mjzvEtfNCxaYvaXpFfPoPXBHmcb9r78j-i8Y7A$ 

Stuart


From: Caroline Webb 
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2024 9:15 AM
To: Stuart N. Clarke ; vwoolf at lists.osu.edu 
Subject: RE: [Vwoolf] Carriage problems in the OED

Horsefly?  Dipterous insect the female of which bites horses?  That doesn’t sound good to travel in!

 

Only the OED seems to add “horse-fly n2” meaning “a covered carriage drawn by a horse.”

Caroline 

 

From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces+caroline.webb=newcastle.edu.au at lists.osu.edu> On Behalf Of Stuart N. Clarke via Vwoolf
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2024 7:20 PM
To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Carriage problems in the OED

 

By looking up "The Compact Edition of the Dictionary of National Biography: Complete Text Reproduced Micrographically - Volume 1 Main DNB, Abbadie - O'Donnell", I find fly with “horse-fly” as one of its definitions – if you look up the online

By looking up "The Compact Edition of the Dictionary of National Biography:  Complete Text Reproduced Micrographically - Volume 1 Main DNB, Abbadie - O'Donnell", I find fly with “horse-fly” as one of its definitions – if you look up the online OED under horse-fly you get the explanation.

 

Not good enough!

 

Stuart

 

From: Stuart N. Clarke via Vwoolf 

Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2024 9:33 AM

To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu 

Subject: [Vwoolf] Carriage problems in the OED

 

I am somewhat handicapped these days, in that I can’t fully access the OED from home. I used to be able to, but now I can’t. I only scratch the surface. I didn’t know that gig was short for whirligig, but there’s no problem in the OED if you

I am somewhat handicapped these days, in that I can’t fully access the OED from home.  I used to be able to, but now I can’t.  I only scratch the surface.

 

I didn’t know that gig was short for whirligig, but there’s no problem in the OED if you look up gig.

 

However, try looking up fly.  There is a verb, “to travel by fly”, which may lead you to the correct definition (I can’t get that far – I thought a fly was short for something: see brake below).

 

And if you want to know what a brake was, you first have to know that it’s short for a shooting-brake.

 

Stuart


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