/ hɜːs; NAmE hɜːrs/ noun
a long vehicle used for carrying the coffin (= the box for the dead body) at a funeral
••
WORD ORIGIN
Middle English : from Anglo-Norman French herce harrow, frame, from Latin hirpex a kind of large rake, from the extinct southern Italian language Oscan hirpus wolf (with reference to the teeth). The earliest recorded sense in English is latticework canopy placed over the coffin (whilst in church) of a distinguished person , but this probably arose from the late Middle English sense triangular frame (shaped like the ancient harrow) for carrying candles at certain services . The current sense dates from the mid 17th cent.