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''chaise'' ▫ᴱᴺ|Definition|1st|20260817185222-00-⌔
chaise - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Noun
chaise (plural chaises)
- An open, horse-drawn carriage for one or two people, usually with one horse and two wheels.
- ✤ “But why is it necessary, said Edmund, that Crawford’s carriage, or his only should be employed? Why is no use to be made of my mother’s chaise? I could not, when the scheme was first mentioned the other day, understand why a visit from the family were not to be made in the carriage of the family.”1
- ✤ The next morning after breakfast, Joe put Merrylegs into the mistress’s low chaise to take him to the vicarage; he came first and said good bye to us, and Merrylegs neighed to us from the yard.2
- A chaise longue.
- ✤ “Now, do me a favor. Could I borrow a beach chaise?” “Beach chaise?” “I promise it’s for the float. Something that one might sit out in the sun on.” “What the fuck is a beach chaise? Is that French?” “They’re lawn chairs, Seanie.” “Yeah, we got lawn chairs.” “Thank you very much, very kind.”3
- A post chaise.
- ✤ It pulled up with a mighty plunging of horses at the overturned chaise.4
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French chaise. Doublet of cathedra and chair.
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ʃeɪz/
- Audio (Southern England): 🔊
- Rhymes: -eɪz
Printed 2026-08-17.
(echo:: @ ⌗)
Link to original Footnotes
1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter VIII, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 159–160: ↩
[1877], Anna Sewell, “Earlshall”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 101: ↩
2023 July 20, Jake Bender & Zach Dunn, “Pride Parade” (17:25 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows , season 5, episode 3, spoken by Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry): ↩
1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 20: ↩
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