go-cartn.adj.
/ˈɡəʊkɑːt/, U.S. /ˈɡoʊˌkɑrt/ A. n.
1.
a. A device for helping a baby or child to learn to walk, consisting of a light framework on castors or rollers inside which the child is placed; a baby walker. Also: a similar device for supporting the body of a person incapable of walking unaided. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > [noun] > device to assist child learning to walk
go-cart1649
roller1704
baby walker1851
walker1904
1649 C. Raue Disc. Orientall Tongues (new ed.) 172 As if their legs would not serve them well enough to go abroad, but they must have go-carts (whereby children learn to walke).
1652 S. Hartlib Ephemerides (transcript of MS) ii, in Hartlib Papers (Electronic ed.) (2002) 28/2/38B By it many sport or Recreation-coaches or goe-carts for children or elder People mooving for health as a trotting horse may be made.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 109. ⁋4 The Ladies now walk as if they were in a Go-cart.
1786 tr. Marquis de Langle Sentimental Journey through Spain II. 13 Infancy, every where, in general, is pleasing and handsome; but the Spaniard..is already ugly before he has quitted the go-cart.
1801 M. Edgeworth Belinda I. v. 161 Put her into a hoop and she looks as pitiable a figure——as much a prisoner as a child in a go-cart.
1851 C. Dickens & M. Lemon Mr. Nightingale's Diary 23 Who watched you running alone in a go-cart, and tipping over on your precious head upon the paving-stones in the confidence of childhood?
1856 S. G. Goodrich Recoll. Lifetime II. 440 He [sc. Louis XVIII] was trundled about the palace of the Tuileries in a cripple's go-cart.
1893 H. C. Bastian Var. Forms Hysterical Paralysis 70 Patient can..walk in a go-cart fairly well, but cannot yet stand alone.
1903 A. Williams tr. É. M. Dallet et al. 20 Years Co-partnership at Guise iv. 38 The go-cart, which is so common now-a-days for teaching children to walk.
1937 Times 6 Aug. 10/4 A fine example of an eighteenth-century ‘go-cart’, a circular structure on wheels by which young children were taught to walk.
1999 S. Michel Children's Interests/Mothers' Rights 15 For toddlers, colonial Americans had several devices, including..walking stools (also called walking cages or go-carts).
b. figurative and in figurative contexts, chiefly with reference to the inability of someone or something to operate without assistance. Now rare.
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1694 R. Ferguson Let. to Sir John Holt 18 Whilst it [sc. the Government] remains engaged in the War, it is but in a Goe-cart, and walks, and stands by the help of Leading-strings.
1710 D. Manley Mem. Europe I. ii. 243 They..Petition'd Cæsar, That he would be pleas'd to Reign alone: They ask'd that his Go Carts might be dismiss'd.
1766 G. Coleman in T. Francklin Earl of Warwick Prol. sig. A2 Doom'd to hear all that wou'd-be critics talk, And in the go-cart of dull rules to walk!
1841 Q. Rev. June 19 Never having..trusted to her own legs, she [sc. Belgium] is now incapable of doing so, and there she affects to stand, a grown cripple in a go-cart.
1898 W. H. Mallock Aristocracy & Evol. ii. ii. 137 Influencing the minds of others, by guiding their attention to this and to that fact, by providing, as it were, a go-cart for their weaker intellectual faculties.
1934 Times 19 July 11/3 This could not be achieved by man himself. Man was yet in the go-cart. He was not civilized enough.
1983 T. Humphrey tr. I. Kant in Perpetual Peace 41 Having carefully made sure that these docile creatures will not take a single step without the go-cart to which they are harnessed.
2. A human-powered conveyance for transporting a passenger or passengers, as a litter, palanquin, rickshaw, etc.; (in later use esp.) a two-wheeled cart of a kind formerly widely used for this purpose in parts of West Africa. Now chiefly historical.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > conveyance carried by person or animal > [noun] > litter
litterc1330
saumbury1393
cabin1587
palanquin1588
norimon1616
dooliec1625
sedan1646
pavilion1656
takhtrawan1671
go-cart1676
palki1678
portantina1758
muncheel1807
machila1833
kago1857
dandy1870
1676 Char. Quack-doctor 5 Sulton Gilgal..being violently afflicted with a Spasmus, came 600 Leagues to meet me in a Go-Cart.
1719 P. Horneck High-German Doctor (new ed.) II. 110 The Chaise and Go-Cart were preparing.
1830 Christian Advocate Jan. 181/2 I here [sc. in Bath] noticed for the first time, sedan chairs..; they also have a little kind of go-cart, on three wheels, which is dragged along by one man.
1892 Leeds Mercury 27 Feb. (Weekly Suppl.) 5/4 I..found that my mode of conveyance from once place to another [in Accra] was by go-cart. This arrangement consists of a small hand-cart on two wheels, drawn, as a rule, by one Kroo boy, and pushed behind by another.
1928 Times 30 Oct. p. xxvi/2 As recently as 1918 ‘go carts’ were the usual vehicles for passenger transport around Accra; today nobody thinks of going anywhere except by car.
1933 R. Streat Diary 28 Sept. (1987) I. 261 The first sight you get of any well-known Manchester figure seated in a rickshaw (which is a sort of adult go-cart pulled by two coolies..) strikes you as altogether ludicrous.
1941 Daily News (Huntingdon, Pa.) 20 June 2/6 Goble..suggested to the Japanese the idea of the two wheeled go-carts [i.e. rickshaws].
2004 A. Olukoju in T. Falola & S. J. Salm Nigerian Cities viii. 212 Bicycles, rickshaws, go-carts, and two- and four-wheel trucks were the means of transport in Lagos in the opening quarter of the twentieth century.
3.
a. A handcart or other small cart. Chiefly North American in later use.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle pushed or pulled by person > [noun] > wheelbarrow or handcart
crowd-wainc1330
wheelbarrowc1340
barrowa1420
crowd-barrowc1440
hollbarowe1453
harry-carry1493
handbarrow1521
drumbler1613
handcart1640
bayard1642
hurlbarrowa1682
go-cart1759
gurry1777
box-barrow1804
truck1815
pushcart1853
hurly1866
flat1884
Georgia buggy1904
trek-cart1928
1759 O. Goldsmith Bee 13 Oct. 39 She [sc. Mrs. Roundabout] puts me in mind of my Lord Bantam's Indian sheep, which are obliged to have their monstrous tails trundled along in a go-cart.
1803 R. Edington Descriptive Plan Penitentiary House 78 The waggons now used..are not much above the construction of go-carts, they have neither brakes to retard their motion down hill, nor aids to propel them up hill.
1838 F. W. Simms Public Wks. Great Brit. 65 The hand barrow or go-cart is used for the purpose of conveying earth.
1843 Illuminated Mag. 1 227/2 He obtained a good income by playing on a cracked clarionet, seated in a go-cart drawn by a single dog.
1862 Chambers's Jrnl. 18 Oct. 249/1 The dirty, ragged, happy children of Whitechapel, who, with an old go-cart,..are playing..at ‘fashionable calls’.
1922 F. E. Schelling Appraisements & Asperities 135 He is attended by Truth, a woman in Harlequin costume, who trundles for him his go-cart full of ‘little gods [sic] for sale’.
1940 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 23 June 3 a/3 They..pull wagons or go-carts, generally dilapidated, to carry their ice home.
2002 P. Chun Money Dragon 328 She used a wheelbarrow, and subsequently a two-wheeled go-cart for the purpose of transporting merchandise.
b. A child's pushchair, stroller, or pram. Chiefly U.S. in later use. Now somewhat rare.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle pushed or pulled by person > [noun] > perambulator for child
mail-cart1767
baby carriage1825
carriage1829
go-cart1853
perambulator1853
pushcart1853
bassinet1855
baby buggy1862
buggy1862
gypsy cab1864
baby coach1866
pushcar1867
pram1881
wagon1887
pushchair1893
kiddy car1918
stroller1920
pusher1953
1853 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes (1854) I. ii. 18 Upsetting his two little brothers in a go-cart.
1887 Religious Herald 24 Mar. I used to draw her to school on a go-cart nearly half a century ago.
1907 Washington Post 10 Mar. 12/7 (advt.) We are already showing a full assortment of the new season Go-carts and Perambulators.
1939 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 11 May 2/4 (advt.) Other items babies need... Cribs and mattresses... Toddlers and go-karts.
1975 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Jrnl. 6 Aug. a16 (advt.) Strolee all new go-cart... Pure comfort for baby and ease in operation for Mother.
2002 D. Cave Song on Blue Guitar iii. 27 A skinny long-haired woman pushed a squalling baby in a go-cart.
4.
a. A kind of light open horse-drawn carriage. Now somewhat rare (U.S. in later use).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > carriage for conveying persons > [noun] > types of carriage > light carriage > two-wheeled
timwhisky1768
whisky1769
gig1791
rib chair1795
shandry1802
trap1807
tilbury1814
dennet1818
chaise-cart1821
spring-cart1823
go-cart1824
jockey-cart1840
guinguette1852
Catherine1861
croydon1880
stolkjaerre1885
Ralli car1886
1824 Proc. Old Bailey 2 Dec. 45/2 I met him about twelve o'clock; we..went from the Bricklayers' Arms, in a go cart.
1837 W. B. Adams Eng. Pleasure Carriages xvii. 278 They all more or less bear a strong resemblance to the vehicles called ‘go-carts’, which ply for hire..in the neighbourhood of Lambeth.
1858 T. Hughes Scouring of White Horse (1859) vi. 122 A dozen parties, in all sorts of odd go-carts and other vehicles.
1911 H. Belloc Four Men 153 He sold his go-cart and his nag and bought a wheelbarrow.
1969 N.Y. Times 31 May 10/5 Neighborhood youngsters congregate..to cadge rides in the circus-bright yellow and orange trap... ‘It was a go-cart from Freedomland and we had shafts made to fit the ponies,’ Mr. Gillies..explained.
b. In extended use: any of various kinds of (usually small) mechanized or motorized vehicle. Cf. go-kart n. Now rare.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > [noun] > motor vehicle > small
go-cart1915
doodlebug1937
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > motor car > [noun] > go-kart
go-cart1915
go-kart1957
kart1959
1915 Gaz. & Bull. (Williamsport, Pa.) 12 June 6/3 To play..upon the street where horses prance and benzine go-carts whizz by in racing temper.
1936 N.Y. Times 14 Oct. 34/6 They let our drivers in there in go-carts that would have been all right for non-stop flights around a banked oval but never had a chance in the stop-and-go gasoline derby over that labyrinthine lane on Long Island.
1955 Washington Post 8 May c7/2 Parker Nolan..introduced the electric golfing buggy to the Virginia countryside yesterday. These go-carts are available to older and tired golfers, in particular.
1962 E. Nugent Of Cheat & Charmer iii. 72 A small electric prop-truck passed by as he was parking his car... ‘I'm not shooting tomorrow or Wednesday; what's the dining-room stuff doing on that go-cart?’
5. Originally and chiefly British. A light cart, designed esp. to be ridden by children, typically built at home from recycled objects such as wooden crates, pram or bicycle wheels, etc., and usually propelled by the action of gravity.
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society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > other toys > [noun] > toy vehicle to ride on
go-cart1906
kiddy car1918
scooter1919
playmobile1921
soap-box cart1977
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle pushed or pulled by person > [noun] > toy car for riding in
pushmobile1904
go-cart1906
kiddy car1918
1906 Daily Mail 4 Jan. 5 A feature of the campaign at Croydon..is the employment..of numerous boys' go-carts. A procession of these go-carts, mostly soap-boxes mounted on perambulator wheels,..passed through the principal streets of the town yesterday.
1954 Daily Mail 29 May 4/6 He..played with his home-made go-cart, which he trundled to the top of the cobbled incline leading to his cottage, then careered down madly to the front door.
1985 C. Francis Red Crystal xiv. 273 It wasn't a car that he'd crashed now, but his go-cart which he'd built out of plywood and old pram wheels.
2008 R. Beard Becoming Drusilla (2009) iii. 56 Children lived out heroic afternoon epics, running go-carts down suicidal hills.
B. adj. (attributive).
Relating to or designating a person (esp. a child) who walks with the aid of a go-cart (sense A. 1a). Also figurative: belonging to or designating the early stages of someone's development, experience, etc. (cf. sense A. 1b). Now rare.
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1783 T. Holcroft Human Happiness i. 6 A go-cart child, or woman breeding Is not more whimsical in feeding.
1818 T. Moore Fudge Family in Paris ii. 14 That France prefers her go-cart King To such a coward scamp as Boney.
1829 Young Lady's Bk. 374 The voice should, as quickly as possible, divest itself of the assistance of those go-cart and leading-string accompaniments.
1835 Lady Morgan Princess I. iii. 108 In the first go-cart steps of mind, to write a letter was no trifling occurrence.
1912 Christian Reg. (Boston) 28 Mar. 304/2 And then that dear go-cart baby can come here and call for her doggie?
1954 Luther Life Apr. 25/2 Most of us will admit that our own ideas of God and the wonders of his working are in the go-cart stage.
Compounds
General attributive and objective.
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1888 J. N. Emra Centre of Central Sea ii. 12 On shore the go-cart drivers lay prostrate..wherever their sweltering limbs might find escape from the terrors of the sun.
1907 Amer. Jrnl. Orthopedic Surg. 4 397 It is constructed of one inch angle iron with go-cart wheels and axles.
1922 Motor Life Nov. 31 Clarence Suttcliffe..constructed this automobile from a motorcycle engine, some odd machinery parts and a set of go-cart wheels.
Derivatives
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1748 S. Richardson Clarissa VII. lxxxvii.* 325 The hanging-sleev'd, go-carted property of hired slaves.
ˈgo-carting n. the activity of riding or racing in a go-cart.
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1913 Salt Lake Tribune 12 May 7/3 (advt.) A cart of the kind we sell makes go-carting safe and comfortable for the baby.
2010 M. Rutter Coals to Calcutta 16 Life was one big game of tig, football, marbles and go-carting on home-made carts.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.1649