equipage means equipment or supplies, especially military ones. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 79 out of 100.
equipage is pronounced /ˈɛ.kwɪ.pɪdʒ/.
Why “equipage” is a great word
EQUIPAGE — [Noun] The necessary apparatus and personnel for an undertaking, specifically military provisions or a horse-drawn carriage with its full retinue. From Middle French 'equippage', from 'equipper' (to equip), with the 'carriage' sense possibly influenced by Latin 'equus' ("horse"). First attested in English circa 1570. Unlike 'equipment', a general and utilitarian term, or 'carriage', which denotes only the vehicle, equipage implies a complete system of moving parts and attendant lives—a social unit in motion. It is the clinking, orderly rack of a cavalry column, the matched livery of postilions on a town coach, and the precise placement of silver on a traveling noble's dinner-service—a small, portable world of ceremony rolling on creaking wheels, trailing the weight of one’s entire circumstance.
Etymology
From Middle French equippage, from equipper. The "carriage" sense may be influenced by Latin equus (“horse”).
noun
- Equipment or supplies, especially military ones.“Araminta, come I'll talk ſeriouſly to you now, could you but ſee vvith my Eyes the buffoonry of one Scene of Addreſs, a Lover, ſet out with all his Equipage and Appurtenances; […]”
- A type of horse-drawn carriage.“At this moment the carriage turned into the Prado; a thousand magnificent equipages, with plumed horses, superb caparisons, and beautiful women bowing to the cavaliers, who stood for a moment on the foot-board, and then bowed their adieus to the “ladies of their love,” passed before our eyes.”
- The carriage together with attendants; a retinue.“For although the Queen had ordered a little Equipage of all things neceſſary while I was in her Service, yet my Ideas were wholly taken up with what I ſaw on every ſide of me, and winked at my own Littleneſs as People do at their own Faults.”
- Military dress; uniform, armour, etc.“Loe-heere a description, much resembling the equipage of a compleat French-man at armes, with all his bards.”
verb
- To furnish with an equipage.