electriquette
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An early form of battery-powered motorized wheelchair or slow-speed cart, typically featuring a two-person bench seat enclosed by a wicker or rattan exterior.
Obsolete
noun
Alternative letter-case form of Electriquette
Example Sentences
- "Then we came out and got into an "electriquette" which is a self-pushing rolling chair."
- "The Governor was riding about with his little son in an electriquette escorted by his staff and President Davidson. "Oh, please wait a minute," said a woman, and ran, breathlessly after the wheeled chair."
- "[...] then the soft whirr of rubber tires, and, lo, the Vice-President of the United States of America has gone by in an electriquette. Of course, chances are, you do not know what an electriquette happens to be. Jack Roosa, who’s been down to San Diego to see, tells us that it is a comfortable, two-seated sedan chair, fitted with much the same apparatus that drives an electric automobile. Only, it is simpler—so very much simpler that a mere child can operate it."
- "This view seen along the Esplanade or along the Marina, changing as you traveled on the Fadgl train or the Overfair Railroad, or in an electriquette, or passed leisurely afoot, was part of the matchless picture of the Exposition."
- "The only vehicle for use within the exposition grounds is a small motor chair known as an "electriquette" which carries two or three people and is limited to a speed of three and one half miles per hour."
Etymology
Pseudo-Gallicism, from French électrique (“electric”) + -ette (a playful, vintage suffix inspired by the French-sounding names). Invented by Clyde H. Osborn; beginning in 1915, these carts were manufactured by the Electriquette Manufacturing Company in Los Angeles. A genericized trademark.
Word Breakdown
- Suffix: fr:électrique