Cryptic clue: Horse-drawn vehicle industry
Answer: Diligence
How do we figure this one out?
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Sign up to join this communityCryptic clue: Horse-drawn vehicle industry
Answer: Diligence
How do we figure this one out?
Wiktionary says:
diligence (plural diligences)
- conscientiousness or determination or perseverance when doing something
- (religion) One of the seven contrary virtues, opposite the vice of sloth.
- A public stage-coach. (19th century, now used only in reference to France or other European countries including Great Britain.)
industry (in the sense of "busily working") would match definition 1, and definition 3 is a horse-drawn vehicle, if an obscure one. I had no idea!
Here's the etymology of the third meaning given at the Wiktionary.
From the secondary French sense comes the old usage of diligence for "public stage coach" (1742; dilly for short), from a French shortening of carrosse de diligence.
O.Fr. diligence means "attention, care; haste, speed," so carrosse de diligence means "speedy coach."
The Encylopaedia Britannica expands on how the diligence differs from the american stagecoach.