coach1

 
Pronunciation: /kəʊtʃ/

noun

  • 1British a comfortably equipped single-decker bus used for longer journeys: [as modifier]: a coach trip
  • 2British a railway carriage.
  • North American (also coach class) the cheapest class of seating in an aircraft or train.
  • 3a closed horse-drawn carriage.

verb

[no object, with adverbial of direction]
  • travel by coach: fly or coach to the shores of the Mediterranean

adverb

North American
  • in economy class accommodation in an aircraft or train: many employees are now flying coach instead of business class to Europe

Phrases

drive a coach and horses through

British make (something) ineffective: he’s driving a coach and horses through our environmental legislation

Origin:

mid 16th century (in coach1 (sense 3 of the noun)): from French coche, from Hungarian kocsi (szekér) '(wagon) from Kocs', a town in Hungary