meatwagon

Noun

meatwagon (plural meatwagons)

1. A wagon for transporting meat.
   • The kettle boiled on an iron hook stuck in the ground, two rough-looking men were negotiating a horse-trade with a farmer, and a woman was telling the butcher's fortune behind his meatwagon.1890, Frank Leslie, Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly - Volume 29, page 42
   • The obliging young husband returned with the cheering intelligence that the broilers would be forthcoming as soon as the meatwagon horse returned from his supper. Seemingly, however, the butcher's hungry steed lingered long over his evening meal, for it was almost ten before he paused at the...1907, Harper's Bazaar - Volume 41, page 543
2. An ambulance.
   • 'Meatwagon is here,' Warren said as the ambulance pulled up with only one headlight and a smashed grill.1990, Robert Henry, No man alone, page 110
   • He gets the walk-ins, I drive the meatwagon and fetch home the ones like you.2001, David Drake, Ranks of Bronze, →ISBN
3. A police vehicle for transporting prisoners.
   • Unmarked vehicles usually meant federal intervention. And if it didn't belong in federal interdiction, then it might be a Mafia meatwagon, which was a far worse circumstance.2010, Joseph Armstead, Krymsin Nocturnes, →ISBN, page 228
   • Get them off the door and into a meatwagon. They're almost certainly involved.2012, Pat W Hendersen, Club, →ISBN, page 201
4. A vehicle for transporting the dead.
   • We trundled the old boy down the aisle, through the massive doors out into the brilliant August sunlight and into the meatwagon for the trip to the cemetery.1992, J. D. Owens, Fancy Grosse Pointe People, →ISBN, page 63
   • The coroner came and went. We watched them load the gruesome body bag into the meatwagon.2000, Jean D. Erhardt, She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not, →ISBN, page 240