POSTILION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does postilion mean? 

• POSTILION (noun)
  The noun POSTILION has 1 sense:

1. someone who rides the near horse of a pair in order to guide the horses pulling a carriage (especially a carriage without a coachman)

  Familiarity information: POSTILION used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POSTILION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who rides the near horse of a pair in order to guide the horses pulling a carriage (especially a carriage without a coachman)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

postilion; postillion

Hypernyms ("postilion" is a kind of...):

equestrian; horseback rider; horseman (a man skilled in equitation)

 Context examples 

Ere Alleyne could answer there swung round the curve of the road a lady's carriage drawn by three horses abreast with a postilion upon the outer one.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He meant I believe, replied Jane, to go to Epsom, the place where they last changed horses, see the postilions and try if anything could be made out from them.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Little Nap is a handsome boy, who sits chatting to his tutor, and kisses his hand to the people as he passes in his four-horse barouche, with postilions in red satin jackets and a mounted guard before and behind.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The tediousness of a two hours' wait at Petty France, in which there was nothing to be done but to eat without being hungry, and loiter about without anything to see, next followed—and her admiration of the style in which they travelled, of the fashionable chaise and four—postilions handsomely liveried, rising so regularly in their stirrups, and numerous outriders properly mounted, sunk a little under this consequent inconvenience.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

None could seem more safe and secure and at her ease than this lady, yet here also was a symbol of human life, for in an instant, even as Alleyne reined aside to let the carriage pass, a wheel flew out from among its fellows, and over it all toppled—carving, tapestry and gilt—in one wild heap, with the horses plunging, the postilion shouting, and the lady screaming from within.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)