Crossword clues for postilion
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Postilion \Pos*til"ion\, n. [F. postillon, It. postiglione, fr. posta post. See Post a postman.] One who rides and guides the first pair of horses of a coach or post chaise; also, one who rides one of the horses when one pair only is used. [Written also postillion.]
Wiktionary
n. 1 A rider mounted on the near (left) leading horse who guides the team pulling a carriage. 2 (lb en obsolete) A post-boy, a messenger boy, a swift letter carrier.
WordNet
n. someone who rides the near horse of a pair in order to guide the horses pulling a carriage (especially a carriage without a coachman) [syn: postillion]
Wikipedia
__NOTOC__ A postilion (or postillion, occasionally Anglicised to "post-boy") rider was the driver of a horse-drawn coach or post chaise, mounted on one of the drawing horses. By contrast, a coachman would be mounted on the vehicle along with the passengers.
Postilion riders normally rode the left (or "near") horse of a pair because horses usually were trained only to be mounted from the left. With a double team, either there would be two postilions, one for each pair, or one postilion would ride on the left rear horse in order to control all four horses.
Postilions were typically supplied with a special rigid boot for use on their inside (right hand) leg. This appliance provided protection from possible crushing injury due to contact with the central wooden shaft (if any) and the body of the adjacent horse.
Usage examples of "postilion".
My postilion had, a little officiously, while I was in the hall talking with the hotel authorities, got his horses, bit by bit, as other carriages moved away, to the very steps of the inn door.
The postilion rushed her forward and hammered her right hand against the brick wall till she dropped the dagger.
The postilion screamed, lifting Sharina as a shield for his face and torso.
The postilion opened the door and unfolded the step for Foxe to alight.
Henry Carew - assisted by a nonplussed postilion - climbed into the dark interior of his lacquered coach and Catherine could see no more.
She made her way to the paddock where the horses were grazing and asked a postilion to help her harness them into the burgundy phaeton.
Wilton seated himself by the side of Laura, the postilion cracked his whip, which was then as common in England as it is now in France, the horses went forward, and the wheels rolling through the little street of High Halstow, were soon upon the road to Stroud.
The landlord was about to follow them, after examining the coach, when the postilion caught him by the arm.
Hulot saw at once that the sound came from a postilion harnessing his horses to the coach, and he cast aside his suspicions, all the more because it seemed absurd to suppose that the Chouans would risk themselves in Alencon.
Thanks to the impatience of the postilion, Mademoiselle de Verneuil soon saw the chateau of La Vivetiere.
Just then Pille-Miche appeared in the gateway and called to the postilion who was left in the stable.
Pille-Miche uttered a sort of hoarse cry as he started to find the postilion, and his glee brought death to Merle, whom he met on his way.
The postilion and the two women shuddered, for several corpses were floating near them.
The postilion, dreading some new disaster, made all the haste he could to reach the high-road, and was soon on the summit of La Pelerine.
This at once gave her safety in entering the town, but the postilion could find no other place for her to stop at than the Poste inn.