Black Maria
noun phrase (informal)

- a police vehicle for transporting prisoners

- another name for the queen of spades in card games

(Oxford English Dictionary)

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The origin of the term "Black Maria" is a good example of how etymological myths are created. Most sources, including the Oxford Online Dictionary, suggest that this phrase stems from a real person named Maria Lee.

Ms. Lee was a very large and powerful black woman who lived in Boston, Massachusetts in the 1830s. She ran a boarding house with an iron hand and became famous for helping escort drunk residents of her house to the police van, where they were then transported to jail. Black Maria was feared more than the police.

However, Michael Quinlon of World Wide Words points out that there is no direct evidence of Ms. Lee as the source of the expression. On the contrary, there are indications the phrase was used around a decade earlier in New York. Backing up this theory is a famous and successful black racehorse named Black Maria. Since police vans were once pulled by horses, this might explain the association. But again, there is no documented proof.

An interesting side-note to this story is the world's first motion picture studio. Built by Thomas Edison in 1892 in West Orange, New Jersey, it was named The Black Maria on account of its resemblance to a police patrol wagon. The studio had a roof that could be opened to admit sunlight for illumination, and the building itself was mounted on a revolving pivot so that the structure could be constantly repositioned to keep it aligned with the sun.

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SYNONYMS

paddy wagon, patrol wagon, police wagon