, also called chair
, is a light, two-wheeled sprung cart
pulled by one horse. OED
gives the date of first known reference to a horse-drawn gig as 1791. Gigs travelling at night would normally carry two oil lamps with thick glass, known as gig-lamps.
Gig carts are constructed with the driver's seat sitting higher than the level of the shafts. Traditionally, a gig is more formal than a village cart or a meadowbrook cart. A light gig can be used for carriage racing.
There are several types of gig, including:
- calesín: small, one-horse, hooded, a seat behind for the driver, used in the Philippines; diminutive of Spanish calesa
- stanhope: typically having a high seat and closed back; named after Fitzroy Stanhope, a British clergyman who died in 1864.
- stick gig: lightweight, two-wheeled, for one person
- whiskey or whisky: small body that resembles a chair, suspended on leather braces attached to springs