hearse

English

a funeral carriage

Pronunciation

• enPR: hûrs
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hɜːs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /hɝs/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Homophone: herse
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)s

Etymology 1

From Middle English herse, hers, herce, from Old French herce, from Medieval Latin hercia, from Latin herpicem, hirpex; ultimately from Oscan 𐌇𐌉𐌓𐌐𐌖𐌔 (hirpus, “wolf”), a reference to the teeth, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“stiff, rigid, bristled”). The Oscan term is related to Latin hīrsūtus (“bristly, shaggy”). Doublet of hirsute.

Alternative forms

• herse (obsolete)

Noun

hearse (plural hearses)

1. A framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax lights and set up in a church, under which the coffin was placed during the funeral ceremonies.
2. A grave, coffin, tomb, or sepulchral monument.
   • 1621, Ben Jonson, Epitath to Mary Herbert:

     underneath this sable hearse

   • 1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Third Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC:

     Beside the hearse a fruitful palm tree grows,

   • 1882, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, To the Avon:

     who lies beneath this sculptured hearse

3. A bier or handbarrow for conveying the dead to the grave.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Set down, set down your honourable load, / If honour may be shrouded in a hearse.

4. A carriage or vehicle specially adapted or used for transporting a dead person to the place of funeral or to the grave.

Translations

framework placed over coffin or tomb

• Belarusian: балдахі́н m (baldaxín)
• Czech: katafalk (cs) m
• Dutch: baldakijn (nl) m, overhuiving f
• Italian: baldacchino (it) m, catafalco (it) m
• Russian: балдахи́н (ru) m (baldaxín)
• Ukrainian: балдахі́н (uk) m (baldaxín)

grave, coffin, tomb

• Bulgarian: гроб (bg) m (grob)
• Dutch: graf (nl) n, lijkkist (nl) f, graftombe (nl) f
• Macedonian: гроб (mk) m (grob)
• Russian: моги́ла (ru) f (mogíla) (grave), гроб (ru) m (grob) (coffin or grave (poetic)), гробни́ца (ru) f (grobníca) (tomb)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гро̏б m, гро̏бница f

  Roman: grȍb (sh) m, grȍbnica (sh) f

bier or handbarrow for carrying the dead

• Belarusian: катафа́лк m (katafálk)
• Bulgarian: катафа́лка f (katafálka)
• Czech: máry (cs) f pl
• Dutch: katafalk (nl) m or f
• Finnish: ruumispaarit pl
• Irish: eileatram m
• Italian: cataletto m
• Macedonian: но́сило n (nósilo), катафа́лка f (katafálka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: likvogn m or f

• Russian: катафа́лк (ru) m (katafálk), дро́ги (ru) f pl (drógi) (cart)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ката̀фалк m

  Roman: katàfalk (sh) m

• Ukrainian: катафа́лк m (katafálk)

vehicle for transporting dead

• Arabic: سَيَّارة نَقْل مَوْتَى f (sayyāra naql mawtā), عَرَبة نَقْل مَوْتَى f (ʕaraba naql mawtā)
• Armenian: դիակառք (hy) (diakaṙkʻ)
• Azerbaijani: mafə
• Belarusian: катафа́лк m (katafálk)
• Bulgarian: катафа́лка f (katafálka)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 靈車／灵车 (ling⁴ ce¹)

  Mandarin: 柩車／柩车 (zh) (jiùchē), 殯車／殡车 (zh) (bìnchē), 靈車／灵车 (zh) (língchē), 靈柩車／灵柩车 (língjiù chē)

• Czech: pohřební vůz m
• Danish: ligvogn c, rustvogn (da) c
• Dutch: lijkwagen (nl) m, rouwkoets (nl) f
• Esperanto: ĉerkveturilo
• Faroese: líkbilur m
• Finnish: ruumisauto (fi), ruumisvaunut (fi) pl
• French: corbillard (fr) m
• Georgian: კატაფალკი (ḳaṭapalḳi)
• German: Leichenwagen (de) m
• Greek: νεκροφόρα (el) f (nekrofóra)
• Hungarian: halottaskocsi (hu)
• Icelandic: líkbíll m
• Ido: sarkoveturo (io)
• Irish: eileatram m, marbhchóiste m, cóiste marbh m
• Italian: carro funebre m
• Japanese: 霊柩車 (ja) (れいきゅうしゃ, reikyūsha), 柩車 (きゅうしゃ, kyūsha)
• Korean: 영구차(靈柩車) (yeonggucha), 령구차(靈柩車) (ryeonggucha) (North Korea)
• Latvian: katafalks m
• Lithuanian: katafalkas m
• Macedonian: катафа́лка f (katafálka)
• Malay: van jenazah
• Maori: waka tūpāpaku
• Norman: hèrse f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: likbil (no) m, begravelsesbil m

  Nynorsk: likbil m, gravferdsbil m

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: نَعْش‌کِش (na'š-keš)

• Polish: karawan (pl) m
• Portuguese: rabecão (pt) m, carro fúnebre m
• Romanian: dric (ro) n
• Russian: катафа́лк (ru) m (katafálk), дро́ги (ru) f pl (drógi) (cart)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: mrtvačka kola n pl

• Slovak: pohrebný voz m
• Slovene: mrliški voz m
• Spanish: coche fúnebre m, carroza (es) f
• Swedish: likbil (sv) c (car), bårbil c (car), likvagn c (carriage)
• Turkish: cenaze arabası
• Ukrainian: катафа́лк m (katafálk)
• Uzbek: katafalk
• Vietnamese: xe tang (vi)
• Welsh: elorgerbyd m

hind on her second year

• Dutch: tweejarige hinde f
• Finnish: vuonelo (fi) (reindeer)
• Italian: cerbiatta (it) f, cerva (it) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: košuta dvogodišnjakinja f

References

• “hearse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “hearse”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “hearse”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Verb

hearse (third-person singular simple present hearses, present participle hearsing, simple past and past participle hearsed)

1. (dated) To enclose in a hearse; to entomb.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear! would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin!

Etymology 2

Noun

hearse (plural hearses)

1. Alternative form of hearst (“A hind (female deer) in the second or third year of her age”)

Anagrams

• harees, heares, sharee