Also 8 landeau, lando. [f. Landau, the name of a town in Germany, where the vehicle was first made. The Ger. name is landauer, short for landauer wagen.] A four-wheeled carriage, the top of which, being made in two parts, may be closed or thrown open. When open, the rear part is folded back, and the front part entirely removed. Also landau carriage.
1743. in J. Strang, Glasgow (1856), 17, note. The coach or lando to contain six passengers.
1748. St. James’s Even. Post, No. 5982. Three Landaus with six Horses each … waited his coming.
1753. Shenstone, Wks. & Lett., III. 218. There were near 200 people gathered round Lady Luxborough’s landeau at Birmingham.
1786. Wesley, Wks. (1872), XI. 322. The Pope was in an open landau.
1794. W. Felton, Carriages (1801), I. 22. The body of a landau carriage differs nothing in shape from a Coach. The landau is the Coach form, the landaulet the Chariot form.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 306/1. The landau … combines more than the advantages of three distinct vehicles—a close carriage, a barouche or half-headed carriage, and one entirely open.
