meatwagon

meatwagon (plural meatwagons)

1. Alternative form of meat wagon
   1. A wagon for transporting meat.
      • 1890, Frank Leslie, Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly - Volume 29, page 42:

        The kettle boiled on an iron hook stuck in the ground, two rough-looking men were negotiating a horse-trade with a farmer, and a woman was telling the butcher's fortune behind his meatwagon.

      • 1907, Harper's Bazaar - Volume 41, page 543:

        The obliging young husband returned with the cheering intelligence that the broilers would be forthcoming as soon as the meatwagon horse returned from his supper. Seemingly, however, the butcher's hungry steed lingered long over his evening meal, for it was almost ten before he paused at the Maitlands' unpretentious gate.

      • 1977, Planning & Changing - Volume 8, page 241:

        Teacher and student may eat lunch together at a Burger Chef or buy a sandwich from the “meatwagon”—the catering truck that pulls into the school yard at lunch time.

      • 1992, Timothy R. Paulsen, Collect Those Debts!, →ISBN:

        How to Win Friends and Influence People — Dale Carnegie I stayed away from this book for a long time, just because of the title. First of all, it sounded like I would be a con artist by the time I finished, able to talk a dog off a meatwagon.

   2. An ambulance.
      • 1990, Robert Henry, No man alone, page 110:

        'Meatwagon is here,' Warren said as the ambulance pulled up with only one headlight and a smashed grill.

      • 2001, David Drake, Ranks of Bronze, →ISBN:

        He gets the walk-ins, I drive the meatwagon and fetch home the ones like you.

      • 2009, Red Edit Red, City Smells, →ISBN, page 18:

        'Goddamn, Sollie...hold on brother. Meatwagon's comin'!'

   3. A police vehicle for transporting prisoners.
      • 2010, Joseph Armstead, Krymsin Nocturnes, →ISBN, page 228:

        Unmarked vehicles usually meant federal intervention. And if it didn't belong in federal interdiction, then it might be a Mafia meatwagon, which was a far worse circumstance.

      • 2012, Pat W Hendersen, Club, →ISBN, page 201:

        Get them off the door and into a meatwagon. They're almost certainly involved.

      • 2012, Christopher Chance, The Lone Brit on 13: A Prisoner's Hell in Spain's Toughest Jail, →ISBN:

        We were handcuffed to each other, then bundled into a meatwagon for the journey across Madrid to the Carabanchel prison.

      • 2014, Spencer Honniball, Beg, Steal or Borrow: The Official Baby Shambles Story, →ISBN:

        And when he started demanding an explanation, one of them radioed someone, and there was this meatwagon and about twelve more policeman– all in full bulletproof riot gear, truncheons and helmets– came pouring out. But there was already about ten policeman there, so in all there were about twenty-five policemen all manhandling Peter into this meatwagon, and the rest of them just stood there.

   4. A vehicle for transporting the dead.
      • 1992, J. D. Owens, Fancy Grosse Pointe People, →ISBN, page 63:

        We trundled the old boy down the aisle, through the massive doors out into the brilliant August sunlight and into the meatwagon for the trip to the cemetery.

      • 2000, Jean D. Erhardt, She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not, →ISBN, page 240:

        The coroner came and went. We watched them load the gruesome body bag into the meatwagon.

      • 2000, Paul Hartney, Relic, →ISBN, page 47:

        What Skull has will kill you. You keep dealing with Skull, and the meatwagon will pick you up out in the alley one night.

• gatewoman