hearse

n. [ Etymol. uncertain. ] A hind in the second year of its age. [ Eng. ] Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Herse. ] 1. A framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax lights and set up in a church, under which the coffin was placed during the funeral ceremonies. [ Obs. ] Oxf. Gloss. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A grave, coffin, tomb, or sepulchral monument. [ Archaic ] “Underneath this marble hearse.” B. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Beside the hearse a fruitful palm tree grows. Fairfax [ 1913 Webster ]

Who lies beneath this sculptured hearse. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A bier or handbarrow for conveying the dead to the grave. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Set down, set down your honorable load,
It honor may be shrouded in a hearse. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A carriage or motor vehicle specially adapted or used for conveying the dead to the grave in a coffin. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. A cloth for covering a coffin when on a bier; a pall. Bp. Sanderson. [ 1913 Webster ]