meat wagon

noun9

1. •
   A wagon for transporting meat.

   • They are not even meat-wagons. They are open trucks, specially fitted up with a roof and sides and seats and windows and lamps. — 1916
2. •
   An ambulance.

   • “Flag your diapers over here to the Vocapex studio and bring along a meat-wagon. I'll be waiting for you on Stage Three. Yolande Adaire just got herself opened like a book.” — 2014
3. •
   (slang) An ambulance.

   • So they had to take me from there in an ambulance. . . . I remember my dad and uncle used to call them meat wagons. — 2003
4. •
   A police vehicle for transporting prisoners.

   • Sergeant Spola eased himself up from the back seat of his police meat-wagon. — 2013
5. •
   (slang) A police van for transporting prisoners; a paddy wagon.

   • He spent the next four hours in the back of the sweltering NYPD meat wagon as police rounded up other young men. — 2007
6. •
   A vehicle for transporting the dead.

   • The professor took pity on him. “Of course, of course. I have no further use for the remains. Inspector?” “Nah, get him out of here.” The meat-wagon boys got busy, and Benedetti went on. — 2012
7. •
   (slang) A vehicle for transporting dead bodies; a hearse.

   • The old man wandered away from his retirement home, dropped dead on the beach and was picked up by the meat wagon and sent to the morgue. — 2000
8. •
   (historical) A vehicle used for the transportation of meat, usually refrigerated and traditionally of a non-motorized type pulled by horses.

   • The firing of a truck load of meat and two cases of assault enlived the strike of the meat wagon drivers yesterday. — 1907
9. •
   Alternative form of meat wagon.