[F. fiacre; it is said that the vehicles first so called belonged to an innkeeper (in 1648) who lived at the sign of St. Fiacre (De Broc, Anc. Régime, II. 188).] A small four-wheeled carriage for hire, a hackney-coach, a French cab.
1699. M. Lister, Journ. Paris, 12. They are most, even Fiacres or Hackneys, hung with Double Springs, at the four Corners, which insensibly breaks all Jolts.
1741. trans. D’Argens’ Chinese Lett., i. 5–6. The Horses of this miserable Vehicle, which the French call a Fiacre (i. e. a Hackney-Coach) are exactly answerable to the Carriage, the one, being white and blind of one Eye, the other, black and lame.
1826. Longf., in Life (1891), I. vii. 81. Cabriolets, fiacres, and carriages of all kinds driving close to the houses and spattering or running down whole ranks of foot-passengers.
1885. R. Buchanan, Annan Water, xxvii. Hailing a fiacre, he jumped in.
