sedan chair
/sɪˈdan tʃɛː/US/səˈdæn ˌtʃɛər/
sedan chair noun: an open or enclosed chair raised on poles and carried by people or animals, used as a mode of transport.
Noun
sedan chair (plural sedan chairs)
- An open or enclosed chair raised on poles and carried by people or animals, used as a mode of transport.
- In Rio de Janeiro the gentry keep their chaises, which are drawn by mules; the ladies however use a sedan chair, boarded before and behind, with curtains on each side, which is carried by two negroes on a pole connected with the top of the chair, by two rods, coming from under its bottom, one on...1790, George William Anderson, A Collection of Voyages round the World, Vol. I, p. 25
- Mr. G.'s published letters have widely diffused his favorite position, that "China is open." He still maintains this position, though others have risen to controvert it. To me it seems that, whether or not it is open to the settlement of missionaries is a matter to be decided only by experiment; to...1839, Howard Malcom, Travels in South-Eastern Asia..., Vol I, p. 166
- Synonyms:
- litter
- An equivalent mode of transport created by two people grasping each other's forearms, making a seat for the rider.
- Another way of carrying a patient is upon what is known among school-boys as a ‘sedan-chair’, each bearer grasping his own fore-arm and that of his fellow about its middle... and the patient grasping the bearers' necks.1869, Cassell's Household Guide, volume I, page 72
sedan chair meaning in Hindi and Indonesian
sedan chair in Hindi
- portable chair used as a mode of transport — see also litter, palanquin
- पालकी pālkī
sedan chair in Indonesian
- portable chair used as a mode of transport — see also litter, palanquin
- tandu
Examples of sedan chair in a sentence
- The worst that would probably happen to a proper man, making the trial, would be, to be placed in a sedan chair, and transmitted to Macao...1839, Howard Malcom, Travels in South-Eastern Asia..., Vol I, p. 166
- They place the sedan chair on the back of a cow...2010, Jeong Yak-yong, translated by Choi Byong-hyon, Admonitions on Governing the People, page 479:
Synonyms of sedan chair
Forms of sedan chair
| plural | sedan chairs |
|---|---|
| alternative form | sedan-chair |
Origin of sedan chair
Clarifying the intended meaning or sense of sedan.
Questions about sedan chair
- What does sedan chair mean?
- Sedan chair means an open or enclosed chair raised on poles and carried by people or animals, used as a mode of transport.
- What is sedan chair in Hindi?
- Sedan chair in Hindi is पालकी (pālkī). See Sedan chair meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use sedan chair in a sentence?
- The worst that would probably happen to a proper man, making the trial, would be, to be placed in a sedan chair, and transmitted to Macao...
- What part of speech is sedan chair?
- Sedan chair is a noun.
- How do you pronounce sedan chair?
- Sedan chair is pronounced /səˈdæn ˌtʃɛər/ (US).
- What is the plural of sedan chair?
- The plural of sedan chair is sedan chairs.
Words near sedan chair in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sedan chair (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sedan chair.wav.
Cite this entry: “sedan chair.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sedan_chair. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.