Forms: 4–5 charyot, (4 schariot), 4–6 chariotte, 5 chariett(e, (scharyette), charyett, charyott, chariet, chareot, 6 charryet, 7 charriot, 4– chariot. [a. OF. chariot (13th c. in Littré), augm. of char CAR. Since the 17th c. chariot has also taken the place of CHARET, the two having been confused in English, though in F. chariot and charrette are quite distinct, the former being generally 4-wheeled, the latter 2-wheeled; cf. Littré’s 13th c. quot.:
Hallage pour cheriot quatre sols, pour charete deux.]
1. A wheeled vehicle, coach or conveyance.
† a. A vehicle for the conveyance of goods; a cart or wagon. Obs.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1295. Wyth charged chariotes þe cheftayne he findez.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 4201. To charyotes þey drowen þe grete bales.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., II. v. (1495), 32. In a charyot is moche thynge caryed at ones.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxli. 271. Other Iewelles as many as viii charyettes myȝt carye.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 426. x. or xii. Chariots laden with victuall and Artillery.
1693. Mem. Ct. Teckely, IV. 59. The Regiment of Dragoons of Buquoi, which convey’d 200 Chariots of Provisions.
b. A stately vehicle for the conveyance of persons; a triumphal car, a car of state, or a carriage for private use. Now chiefly poet., and applied fig. to the car in which the sun, moon, night, etc., are represented as pursuing their course.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., II. iv. 39. Whan phebus þe sonne bygynneþ to spreden his clereness with rosene chariettes.
138[?]. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 330. If iche lord of ynglond and his wiif haden two schariotis to lede hem.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 341. Þe firste þat brouȝte chariot [quadrigam] in to Grees.
1483. Caxton, Cato, B j. Beyng wythin hys charyot of worshyp.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., I. i. 48. And when you saw his Chariot but appeare, Haue you not made an Vniuersall shout?
1752. Hume, Ess. & Treat. (1777), I. 90. Nero had the same vanity in driving a chariot.
1827. Pollok, Course T., VI. Chariot reined by awkward charioteer.
1883. G. Lloyd, Ebb & Flow, II. 279. Like the sun’s chariot at mid-day?
c. A car or vehicle used in ancient warfare.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 163. A Chariot was a certeine Engine of warre, made with long and sharpe pikes of yron, set in the forefront.
1611. Bible, Ps. xlvi. 9. He burneth the chariot in the fire.
1675. Hobbes, Homer, 62. Idomeneus slew Phæstus with a thrust, As up into his charriot he went.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, VI. 221. The operations of the chariots did not extend much farther on this side.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 384. Assyrian sculptures attest how greatly their pride lay in their chariots.
d. spec. Applied in 18th c. to a light four-wheeled carriage with only back seats, and differing from the post-chaise in having a coach-box. Chariot-and-four: one drawn by four horses.
1661. Pepys, Diary, 29 May. We had great sport to try who should drive fastest, Sir W. Butten’s coach, or Sir W. Penn’s chariot, they having four, and we two horses.
1673. Ld. Polwarth, in Lauderd. Papers (1885), III. xli. 69. A handsome chariot will doe well anuffe, but nou I think on it wee will be for the most part three togither, and by any means a coach must be gott.
1716–8. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. xxxi. 108. I went … the other day all round the town in an open gilt chariot.
1794. W. Felton, Carriages (1801), I. 8. There is no Carriage looks better than a genteel Chariot. Ibid., II. 51.
1833. Act 3 & 4 Will. IV., c. 46 § 113. To license … hackney coaches, landaus, chariots, or other carriages for hire.
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., xxx. He might have been rolling at that moment in his chariot-and-four.
† 2. fig. Vehicle. Obs.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 151. There is a pipe that passeth from the middle ventricle to the last, which is as it were the chariot of the spirite, to passe from one to another.
1605. Timme, Quersit., III. 144. Consider of the blood … how in the same the whaye is as a chariot or mediator.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 791. These Philosophers generally conceived the Humane Soul … to have had a Lucid and Etherial Body … as its Chariot or Vehicle.
† 3. The asterism of the Wain or Plough, forming part of the Great Bear; also some asterism near the South Pole. Obs.
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind. (Arb.), 218. When the starres whiche are cauled the wardens of the north starre are vnder the chariotte. Ibid., 280. We saw also syxe cleare bryght and great starres verye lowe aboue the sea…. We iudged them to bee the chariotte or wayne of the south.
4. Watchmaking. In cylinder watches, a small plate for the bearing of the foot-pivot of the cylinder.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 50. Slight alterations in the intersection of the cylinder and escape wheel are made by shifting the chariot.
5. Comb., chiefly attrib., as chariot-course, -driver -(ing), -horse, -match, -pole, -race, -racer (-ing), -service, -shape, -shell, -side, -way, -wheel; chariot-breaking, -like, adjs.; chariot-man, a driver of a chariot; chariot-service, the management of war chariots.
1798. R. Cumberland, trans. Aristoph., Clouds, in Observ., VI. 227. Oh ye hard hearted, *chariot breaking fates!
1832. G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 409. Circus of Caracalla … is a very well-preserved specimen of the ancient-*chariot-course.
1769. Goldsm., Hist. Rome (1786), II. 224. *Chariot-driving was his favourite pursuit.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 29. The *chariot-guiders in the meane time depart a little out of the medly.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xli. (1495), 802. *Charyotte horse were ordeyned and halowed to the sonne.
1685. H. More, Illustr., 80. This is a *Chariot-like Throne, as that a Throne-like Chariot.
1725–8. Young, Sat., i. 124 (Jod.). *Chariot-like, I kindle as I run.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 175. A *Chariote man ought rather to knowe howe to guide his Carte in driuing, than to drawe it himselfe.
1611. Bible, 2 Macc. ix. 4. Therfore commanded he his chariot man to driue without ceasing, and to dispatch the iourney, the iudgement of God now following him.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 12. Having spent all the estate … in horse-races and *chariot-matches.
c. 1720. Prior, Flies. A fly upon the *chariot pole.
1769. Goldsm., Hist. Rome (1786), II. 224. He never missed the circus, when *chariot-races were to be exhibited there.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, I. 425. Having gained a victory in the Olympic chariot-race.
1696. Creech, Manilius, IV. 2 (Jod.). *Chariot-racer.
1647. N. Bacon, Hist. Disc., i. 2. Where the people are bent to war as these were, and therein had obtained such exquisite perfection of skill in *Chariot service.
1875. B. Taylor, Faust, II. iii. In Venus’ *chariot-shell, with hues of morn, Comes Galatea.
1751. Smollett, Per. Pic. (1779), III. lxxxi. 231. A man riding by the *chariot-side.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, I. VII. 228. An ample *chariot-way.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., I. i. 39. What Tributaries follow him to Rome, To grace in Captiue bonds his *Chariot Wheeles?
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 386. The chariot-wheels quiver in the rapid onset.
