Definition

1. Noun:
   • A horse-drawn carriage with its horses, attendants, and equipment: A complete, often elegant, horse-drawn vehicle along with the animals that pull it and the personnel who manage it.
   • The equipment and supplies of a military force: The collective apparatus, gear, and matériel required for an army or military unit to operate.

Examples of Usage

• Noun (Horse-drawn carriage):

  • The nobleman arrived in a lavish equipage, complete with four white horses and liveried footmen.
  • Museums often display 18th-century royal equipages to illustrate historical travel.

• Noun (Military supplies):

  • The general inspected the regiment's equipage before the long march.
  • Supplying the necessary equipage for the expedition was a major logistical challenge.

Advanced Usage

• "Full equipage": This phrase emphasizes completeness, whether referring to a carriage with all its traditional components or a military unit with all its necessary gear.
  • The ambassador traveled with full equipage, signaling his high status.

Variants and Related Words

• Equip (verb): To provide with necessary items for a particular purpose.
  • The soldiers were equipped for winter warfare.
• Equipment (noun): The items needed for a particular activity or purpose; a more common, modern term.
  • The laboratory purchased new scientific equipment.

Synonyms

• For "carriage" sense: Coach, carriage, rig.
• For "military supplies" sense: Apparatus, gear, matériel, accoutrements.

Related Idioms or Phrases

• While not a common idiom itself, "equipage" can appear in historical or formal descriptions of "turnout," which refers to the style and completeness of a horse-drawn vehicle and its attendants.
  • The duke's turnout was the finest equipage seen at the parade.

Noun

1. a vehicle with wheels drawn by one or more horses
2. equipment and supplies of a military force