I. cart 1 /kɑːt $ kɑːrt/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1100-1200 ; Language: Old Norse ; Origin: kartr ]
1 . a vehicle with no roof that is pulled by a horse and used for carrying heavy things ⇨ ↑ handcart
2 . American English a large wire basket on wheels that you use in a ↑ supermarket SYN trolley British English
3 . the place on an Internet shopping website where you put things that you wish to buy
4 . American English a small table with wheels, used for moving and serving food and drinks SYN trolley British English
5 . put the cart before the horse to do two things in the wrong order
⇨ upset the apple cart at ↑ upset 2 (5)
II. cart 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive always + adverb/preposition]
1 . to take something somewhere in a cart, truck etc
cart something away
Household waste is carted away by the city’s Sanitation Department.
2 . informal to carry something somewhere, especially something that is heavy or difficult to carry:
We carted all the furniture upstairs.
cart somebody off/away phrasal verb informal
to take someone somewhere, especially to prison or hospital:
He collapsed and had to be carted off to hospital.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ carry to have something or someone in your hands or arms when you go somewhere:
She was carrying a heavy suitcase.
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Mary fainted, and had to be carried inside.
▪ tote especially American English informal to carry something such as a bag or a gun:
He came out of the office toting a black leather briefcase.
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Guards toting machine guns stood inside the airport.
▪ lug to carry something heavy, with difficulty:
They lugged the mail in heavy canvas bags into the building.
▪ cart to carry something large and heavy somewhere, especially when this is annoying or hard work:
We carted all the furniture upstairs.
▪ schlep American English informal to carry something heavy:
Marty schlepped the suitcases upstairs.
▪ bear formal to carry something – used when talking about what someone has with them when they go somewhere. Bear is commonly used as a participle bearing :
They arrived bearing gifts.
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Anna returned, bearing a large red packet.