Definition of "postilion"

C’est un garcon de bonne fortune, said the landlord, pointing through the window to half a dozen wenches who had got round about La Fleur, and were most kindly taking their leave of him, as the postilion was leading out the horses.

1768, Mr. Yorick [pseudonym; Laurence Sterne], “Montreuil”, in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […]

The postilion seized one of his fat horses by the tail, and swung himself up to his seat again.

1839, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Hyperion

And now the carriage had fairly left the village; yet the postilions slackened their speed, and drew up gradually before a line of almshouses, […]

1842, [Katherine] Thomson, chapter X, in Widows and Widowers. A Romance of Real Life., volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], page 227

The rain drove into the bride and bridegroom's faces as they passed to the chariot. The postilions' favours draggled on their dripping jackets.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 22, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848

To play the postilion is not an easy thing. It is a trade by itself—half a gunner's and half a groom's. It has to do with horses—that is bad enough ; but also it involves some knowledge of the road.

1911, Hilaire Belloc., chapter 6, in The Girondin