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Two-wheeled carriage From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A gig is a light, two-wheeled open carriage with large wheels, a forward facing seat, and shafts for a single horse. The gig's body is constructed above the shafts, and it is entered from step-irons hanging from the shaft in front of the wheels. Gigs are enclosed at the back, and have luggage space under the cross-seat. Early gigs were crude and unsprung; later gigs were elegant for town driving and were constructed with springs. The term "gig" is short for "whirligig".[1]: 85–6 [2]: 132–3 [3]: 107
The Oxford English Dictionary gives the date of first known reference to a horse-drawn gig as 1791, and they were ubiquitous by the early 1800s.[4]
Gigs were typically named after their designers, builders, or their shape.[2]: 133 There are several types of gig, including:[5][6][7][8]: 90–91
Gigs travelling at night would normally carry two oil lamps with thick glass, known as gig-lamps. This led to the formerly common slang word "giglamps" for "spectacles".[9]
Nineteenth century literature frequently recounted "romantic tales of spills and hairbreadth [e]scapes" from these vehicles, but is equally fulsome on the fearful thrill experienced in driving them.[10]
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