hansom

American  

[han-suhm] / ˈhæn səm /

noun

1. a low-hung, two-wheeled, covered vehicle drawn by one horse, for two passengers, with the driver being mounted on an elevated seat behind and the reins running over the roof.

2. any similar horse-drawn vehicle.

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hansom British  

/ ˈhænsəm /

noun

1. Also called: hansom cab.  (sometimes capital) a two-wheeled one-horse carriage with a fixed hood. The driver sits on a high outside seat at the rear

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Etymology

Origin of hansom

1850–55; named after J. A. Hansom (1803–82), English architect who designed it

Explanation

A hansom is an old-fashioned carriage that's pulled by a horse. There are still some cities where you can find a hansom to ride in for fun, but it's no longer the fastest way to get where you're going. In the 1830s, the hansom, also called a hansom cab, was the latest way to get get around in busy cities. It was smaller than conventional horse-drawn carriages, which had four wheels and at least two horses. With only two wheels and a low center of gravity, hansoms were safe, light and agile, and could be pulled by just one horse. A man named Joseph Hansom patented what he dubbed the "Hansom safety cab" in 1834.

Example Sentences

Maybe not: A hansom cab struggles through the snowdrifts to deliver the recently widowed Lady Glendenning to 221B Baker Street.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025

Leonard’s chosen genre is the Victorian mystery, whose iconography — sulfurous fog, hansom cabs — had already been fixed in Conan Doyle’s lifetime.

From Washington Post • Jul. 27, 2021

The car cut into Central Park, passing a hansom cab, whose driver shouted, “You’re going against traffic!”

From The New Yorker • Jul. 15, 2019

New York City’s taxi industry grew out of the horse-drawn hansom cabs of the 1800s, according to Graham Hodges, the author of “Taxi! A Social History of the New York City Cabdriver.”

From New York Times • Jan. 15, 2017

Omnibuses hurtled down the street at alarming speed, and a line of hansom cabs waited at the curb.

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood