horseless
Lacking equine power
Horseless means without a horse, used almost exclusively in the phrase horseless carriage—an early term for the automobile.
The word captures the late 19th-century attempt to describe cars by what they lacked rather than what they were.
Outside historical contexts, horseless sounds quaint or deliberately archaic.
Horse-drawn cart
- coachOne who instructs
- conveyanceTransfer of property rights
- motorcarSelf-propelled road vehicle
- automobileSelf-propelled passenger conveyance
vehicle · phaeton · surrey · landau · barouche · hansom · roadster · runabout
New device or method
- mechanizationConverting to machine operation
- modernizationAdoption of current methods
- progressMovement toward improvement
- advancementForward movement or promotion
breakthrough · pioneering · technology · automation · patent · ingenuity · assembly line · mass production
Old and outdated
- outmodedNo longer in fashion
- archaicBelonging to earlier times
- anachronisticWrongly placed in time
- bygoneOf earlier times
quaint · old-fashioned · antique · vintage · historical · museum piece · relic · nostalgic
One traveling afoot
- on footMoving by walking
- walkingLocomotion on foot
- dismountedGot off a mount
- unhorsedKnocked from mount
buggy
Horse-drawn cart
- coachOne who instructs
- conveyanceTransfer of property rights
- motorcarSelf-propelled road vehicle
automobile · vehicle · phaeton · surrey · landau · barouche · hansom · roadster · runabout · touring car
invention
New device or method
- mechanizationConverting to machine operation
- modernizationAdoption of current methods
- progressMovement toward improvement
advancement · breakthrough · pioneering · technology · automation · patent · ingenuity · assembly line · mass production · industrialization
antiquated
Old and outdated
- outmodedNo longer in fashion
- archaicBelonging to earlier times
- anachronisticWrongly placed in time
bygone · quaint · old-fashioned · antique · vintage · historical · museum piece · relic · nostalgic · Victorian
pedestrian
One traveling afoot
- on footMoving by walking
- walkingLocomotion on foot
- dismountedGot off a mount
horselesshorse-drawn
Powered by equines
horsed · mounted · equestrian · saddled · equine
- horseless carriageArchaic term for automobile