cart

cart — noun

1. an open vehicle pulled by an animal — often a horse — used for moving crops, sup

1.nounB1
Definition

an open vehicle pulled by an animal — often a horse — used for moving crops, supplies, or other heavy loads

Example

The farmer loaded the cart with hay and drove it back to the barn.

collocation: loaded the cart with

A horse-drawn cart carried vegetables from the fields to the market every morning.

Common collocations
  • load a cart
  • pull a cart
  • horse-drawn cart
  • ox cart
  • farm cart
Synonyms
  • wagon

    often larger and may be motorised; cart is typically animal-drawn or hand-pulled

  • carriage

    used for carrying people rather than goods, and usually more refined

2. a small wheeled carrier you move by hand — either by pushing or pulling it — to

2.nounB1
Definition

a small wheeled carrier you move by hand — either by pushing or pulling it — to transport bulky objects such as groceries or luggage

Example

Priya pushed a shopping cart through the supermarket aisles looking for rice.

collocation: shopping cart

The gardener loaded leaves and branches onto a rusty wheelbarrow-like cart.

Common collocations
  • shopping cart
  • push a cart
  • hand cart
  • luggage cart
  • golf cart
  • grocery cart
Synonyms
  • trolley

    more common in British English for shopping/hand carts; cart is more common in American English

  • wheelbarrow

    a one-wheeled cart for garden or building work, pushed by hand

Usage Note

Commonly used in compounds: shopping cart, golf cart, luggage cart. These refer to purpose-specific wheeled carriers.

Common Mistakes

I put the milk in the chariot.
I put the milk in the cart.
a chariot is a historical war vehicle pulled by horses, not a shopping cart.

3. a feature on an online store where chosen items are saved until you complete you

3.nounB1
Definition

a feature on an online store where chosen items are saved until you complete your purchase and pay for them

Example

Leila added three books to her cart and then went to checkout.

collocation: add to cart

Items left in the cart for too long may be removed from your saved list.

passive: items left in the cart

Common collocations
  • add to cart
  • shopping cart
  • view cart
  • cart icon
  • empty the cart
  • checkout
Synonyms
  • basket

    used interchangeably on some sites, though cart is more common in American English and basket in British English

Usage Note

Often called shopping cart or basket. On most websites the cart icon appears at the top right of the page.

4. a small wheeled table fitted with several tiers, used to bring food, drinks, or

4.nounB2
Definition

a small wheeled table fitted with several tiers, used to bring food, drinks, or dishes from one place to another

Example

The waiter rolled a dessert cart between tables and offered cakes to guests.

collocation: dessert cart

A tea cart with cups and a kettle was brought into the lounge after dinner.

collocation: tea cart

Common collocations
  • dessert cart
  • tea cart
  • drinks cart
  • serving cart
  • roll a cart
Synonyms
  • trolley

    more common in British English in all serving contexts

Idioms

put the cart before the horse

idiom

to do or arrange things in the wrong order, so that the less important step comes before the more important one

Planning the party decorations before booking a venue puts the cart before the horse.

Kofi warned that hiring staff before securing funding would be putting the cart before the horse.

cart — verb

Word family

  • cartage
    nounC2
  • carter
    nounC2
  • shopping cart
    nounB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/2

All four words describe wheeled vehicles for moving objects, but they differ in size, use, and regional preference. A cart (noun/2) is a general-purpose hand-pushed or hand-pulled vehicle used in shops, airports, and gardens. In British English, the same object is more often called a trolley, especially in supermarkets ("shopping trolley") and on aeroplanes ("drinks trolley"). A wheelbarrow has exactly one wheel and two handles, designed for garden or construction work — you lift the handles to tip the load. A wagon is larger and may be pulled by an animal or a vehicle, used for heavy loads or for carrying children in play contexts. In American English, cart covers many of the uses that British English assigns to trolley.

cart ↗trolley ↗wheelbarrowwagon ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Cart comes from Old English 'cræt', meaning a wagon or chariot, which traces back to Proto-Germanic 'krad-' (related to 'cradle'). The word has been used for horse-drawn goods vehicles for over a thousand years. By the 14th century it referred to any two-wheeled vehicle for carrying loads. The online shopping sense is a metaphorical extension from the physical supermarket shopping cart, first appearing in the 1990s as e-commerce websites adopted the checkout-cart metaphor.