A type of closed traveling carriage designed for sleeping during long journeys, popular in 18th and 19th century Europe.
From French dormeuse (sleeping [carriage]), feminine form of dormeur (sleeper). Derived from dormir (to sleep), as these carriages were specifically engineered for rest while traveling.
Before trains, wealthy travelers had literal sleeping cars called dormeuses—the original RV, basically a bed on wheels from the 1700s!
French feminine form (dormeuse) for a type of carriage; -euse is obligatory feminine in French but creates gendered language in English borrowing. Historically describes a vehicle, not a person, yet carries feminine grammatical marker.
In English, use 'dormouse carriage' or 'sleeping carriage' to avoid unnecessary gender marking of objects.
["sleeping carriage","dormouse carriage","carriage"]
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