A horse and buggy (in American English) or horse and carriage (in British English and American English) refers to a light, simple, two-person carriage of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, drawn usually by one or sometimes by two horses.
Today, the term “horse and buggy” is often used in reference to the era before the advent of the automobile and other socially revolutionizing major inventions. By extension, it has come to mean clinging to outworn attitudes or ideas, and hopelessly outmoded, old-fashioned, non-modern, or obsolete.
Until mass production of the automobile brought its price within the reach of the working class, horse-drawn conveyances were the most common means of local transport in towns and nearby countryside. Buggies cost around $25 to $50, and could easily be hitched and driven by untrained men, women, or children. In the United States, hundreds of small companies produced buggies, and their wide use helped to encourage the grading and graveling of main rural roads and actual paving in towns. This provided all-weather passage within and between larger towns.
A coach is originally a large, usually closed, four-wheeled carriage with two or more horses harnessed as a team, controlled by a coachman and/or one or more postilions. It had doors in the sides, with generally a front and a back seat inside and, for the driver, a small, usually elevated seat in front called a box, box seat or coach box. The term “coach” first came into use in the 15th century, and spread across Europe
The term 'stage' originally referred to the distance between stations on a route, the coach traveling the entire route in 'stages', but through metonymy it came to apply to the coach
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Photo: “Behind time”, anonymous old English engraving; 19th century; private collection
By Georges Jansoone (JoJan) - Own work - own photo at an art auction, Public Domain By the end of the 17th century, stage-coach routes ran up and down the three main roads in England.[8] The London-York route was advertised in 1698:
The golden age of the stagecoach was during the Regency period, from 1800 to 1830. The era saw great improvements in the design of the coaches, notably by John Besant in 1792 and 1795. His coach had a greatly improved turning capacity and braking system, and a novel feature that prevented the wheels from falling off while the coach was in motion.
The development of railways in the 1830s spelled the end for stagecoaches and mail coaches.
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