English

Noun

tonneau ‎(plural tonneaus or tonneaux)

1. The rear body or compartment of some types of motor vehicle, especially one containing seats for passengers.
   • 1920, Peter B. Kyne, The Understanding Heart, Ch.XV:

     From the tonneau of Bentley's car the sheriff and Garland removed the groceries and sick-room supplies, stowing them in the kyacks.

   • 1982 March, How to improve your pickup′s mileage, Popular Mechanics, p.102:

     The first step was to install a tonneau cover.

2. An old-style open passenger vehicle with a tonneau (rear compartment with seats).

   He has spent ten years lovingly restoring a rather luxurious tonneau with teak panelling and leather seats.‎

   • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter I”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:

     It was flood-tide along Fifth Avenue; motor, brougham, and victoria swept by on the glittering current; pretty women glanced out from limousine and tonneau; young men of his own type, silk-hatted, frock-coated, the crooks of their walking sticks tucked up under their left arms, passed on the Park side.

3. Short for tonneau cover.
   • 1982 March, How to improve your pickup′s mileage, Popular Mechanics, p.102:

     The first step was to install a tonneau cover. Now most pickup tonneaus snap onto studs screwed into the bodywork. The snaps rust, the holes in the truck rust and the tonneau—because the snaps are spaced every foot or so along the edges—eventually rips around the snaps.

   • 2003, Bill Piggott, Original Triumph TR4/4A/5/6: The Restorer′s Guide, unnumbered page:

     Tonneaux were made of the same plasticised canvas material used for soft-tops.

French

Etymology

tonne +‎ -eau

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔ.no/

Noun

tonneau m ‎(plural tonneaux)

1. barrel; round vessel made from staves bound with a hoop
2. register ton (100 cubic feet)
3. barrel roll

Anagrams

• énouant