charles' wain
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.40 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
1
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A bright circumpolar asterism of the northern sky, said to resemble a wagon or cart. It is part of the constellation Ursa Major and includes the seven stars Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, and Alkaid.
Example Sentences
- "Charles waine is ouer the new Chimney, and yet our horse not packt."
- "Charles's Wain was getting towards a right angle with the Pole star, and Gabriel concluded that it must be about nine o'clock."
- "Down from the heights reels the glittering Cassiopeia as the hours wear on, while Charles’ Wain lumbers up from behind the vapour-soaked swamp trees that sway in the night-wind."
Etymology
From Middle English Charlewayn, from Old English carles wǣn, apparently from a common Proto-Germanic *karlas wagnaz (cognate with forms in other Germanic languages, e.g. Swedish Karlavagnen). It seems that this common Germanic name originally meant the ‘peasant's wagon’ (the churls' wagon) in contrast to the ‘woman's wagon’ (Ursa Minor). Later it was interpreted as ‘Charles's wagon’ and associated with Charlemagne.