buck-wagon, noun

Origin:
Afrikaans, South African English, EnglishShow more Translation of Afrikaans bokwa, bok the body of a wagon + wa wagon; or formed in South African English from English dialect buck the body of a wagon + wagon a vehicle for the conveyance of loads.
historical
A large transport wagon with a strong frame and rails, used for transporting heavy loads; buck noun2 sense 2.
Note:
Also U.S. English.
[1864 N. Webster American Dict. of Eng. Lang.Buckwagon.]
1870 H.H. Dugmore Reminisc. of Albany Settler 15The days of buck-waggons were still far off.
1875 P. in A.M.L. Robinson Sel. Articles from Cape Monthly Mag. (1978) 184The road..takes a sharp turn to the right, making it a difficult matter to steer sixteen bullocks with a heavy buck wagon behind them.
1887 A.A. Anderson 25 Yrs in Waggon I. 57Enormous ‘buck-waggons’ are now made for the diamond fields. They require twenty oxen, and contain a sitting, a bedroom, and a kitchen, and a huge canvas covers the whole.
1893 F.C. Selous Trav. & Adventure 13I bought a roomy buck-waggon..with a half tent, or covered-in compartment to sleep in the back.
1900 H. Blore Imp. Light Horseman 21The command encamped at the station was housed in a caravan of about sixty white-hooded buck waggons, each capable of holding a family.
1914 W.C. Scully Lodges in Wilderness 183Andries arrived bringing — not the comfortable, tilted, spring-wagon, — but the strong, heavy, tentless ‘buck’ wagon.
1922 S.C. Cronwright-Schreiner in F.C. Slater Centenary Bk of S. Afr. Verse (1925) 61The great buck-wagon, our ‘desert-ship’ With its four-ton heavy load And its rooi-bont span and its wagon-whip Is coming along the road.
1937 H. Klein Stage Coach Dust 18Travelling on the buck-wagon was extremely dangerous. This type of farm wagon has its brake control situated at the back, in the form of a long wooden bar stretching across the two back wheels.
1963 Pollock & Agnew Hist. Geog. 108Ox wagons were of two main types. The first was large buck wagon from 18 to 22 feet long, 5 to 7 feet wide, either with a half tent or no tent at all, holding a great deal of cargo of up to three tons.
1971 H. Zeederberg Veld Express 48His buckwagons were fitted with cross-wise seats, which gave accommodation for three persons on either side.
1983 S. Afr. Panorama Apr. 18When the diamond fields were discovered in the 1860’s, the buck- and transport wagon was used to transport heavier loads.
1990 Weekend Argus 29 Sept. 13Another consignment of gold..was loaded on to a buckwagon guarded by Veldkornet Steyn and a small bodyguard.
A large transport wagon with a strong frame and rails, used for transporting heavy loads; buck noun2 sense 2.
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18641990