Meanings
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1
noun
historical: a cart used to carry condemned prisoners to execution, especially to the guillotine during the French Revolution
The prisoners were driven through Paris in a tumbril bound for the guillotine.
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2
noun
a two-wheeled cart designed to tip and dump its load
The farmer emptied the manure from the tumbril at the edge of the field.
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3
noun
historical: a medieval ducking-stool or related tipping device used for punishment
The museum displayed a reconstruction of a tumbril used as a ducking-stool.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From Old French tumberel, the ancestor of modern French tombereau, from tumber or tomber ("to fall, tumble"). The name refers to the cart's tipping action. Tumbrel and tumbrill are alternative English spellings.