britchka

• britschka, britska, britshka, britzka, britzska

From Russian бричка (brička), or its source, Polish bryczka, diminutive form of bryka (“carriage”), probably ultimately from Italian biroccio. Compare barouche.

britchka (plural britchkas)

1. (now historical) A type of horse-drawn carriage, with a foldable roof covering.
   • 1842, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (trans. C. J. Hogarth), chapter 2, in Dead Souls:

     [H]e cracked his whip and the britchka leapt forward with increased speed over the cobblestones.

   • 1847, Xavier Hommaire De Hell, Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus, &c, ch. 22:

     The appearance of our caravan was curious and grotesque. Our britchka was drawn by three camels, taken in tow by a man on foot.

   • 1854, Leo Tolstoy (trans. C. J. Hogarth), Boyhood, ch. 2 – The Thunderstorm:

     At length, Vassili got up and covered over the britchka, the coachman wrapped himself up in his cloak and lifted his cap to make the sign of the cross at each successive thunderclap, and the horses pricked up their ears and snorted.

   • 2002, Michael Hofmann, translating Josepth Roth, The Radetsky March, Folio Society 2015, p. 158:

     The conveyance stopped, a straw-coloured britshka, the summer conveyance of Count Chojnicki.

• brisky

• britchka at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.