cab1
/kab
/noun
1 (also taxi cab) A taxi: she hailed a cab [as modifier]: cab drivers...
- The taxi cab driver, who hails from Guana, waited in the car during my meeting and then drove me back to the hotel.
- A taxi cab driver goes to the airport, which is in the next city 5-10 miles from his house, and he doesn't know where his costumer will tell him to go.
- A taxi cab driver and a pedestrian were also victims of drunken-driving by the prince who is known for his forays to discos and nightclubs.
Synonyms
taxi, taxi cab, minicab, hackney cab
British formal hackney carriage
North American hack
historical fiacre
1.1 historical A horse-drawn vehicle for public hire.I longed for my parents to hire a horse-drawn cab instead of a taxi but that did not happen....
- And there's all these Victorian horse-drawn cabs outside and all the cabbies are trying to avoid eye-contact.
- The relaxation of licensing control on horse-drawn cabs in 1831 led to a great and necessary increase, J. A. Hansom inventing his famous cab in 1834.
2The driver’s compartment in a lorry, bus, or train.Detectives are hunting a gang who dragged a sleeping lorry driver from his cab in Bury and took him on a ‘ride of terror’....
- The student jumped onto the draw-bar separating the cab of the lorry from the trailer and travelled on the vehicle as far as the Mall where he either slipped or tried to jump off.
- Then a blue van struck the front of the lorry as it was in the ditch, pushing two ladders, which were on board, into the driver's side of the lorry cab.
Synonyms
compartment, driver's compartment, cabin
verb (cabs, cabbing, cabbed) [no object]
Travel in a taxi: Roger cabbed home...
- We brought it back to my place, packed a little more, and heated up leftovers at 11 PM after cabbing back to his place.
- While I was still in a dilemma as to whether I should ask them verbally if they are indeed cabbing, another dilemma stepped up in the form of a tyrannical auntie.
- We cabbed there to rendezvous with more bar staff, once again forming a platoon of hard pounders.
Phrases
(the) first cab off the rank
Origin
Early 19th century: abbreviation of cabriolet.
A cab was originally a cabriolet, now a car with a roof that folds down but in the mid 18th century a kind of light two-wheeled carriage with a hood, drawn by one horse. The motion of the carriage suggested its name, which is from French cabriole ‘a goat's leap’—the root is Latin caper ‘goat’. See also caper
Rhymes
cab2
/kab/noun informal
A cabinet containing a speaker or speakers for a guitar amplifier.Besides the speaker in the cab is a fairly high quality one, while the little 8 incher is a farty little stock speaker....
- All guitar cab grills are secured by screws, not cheap Velcro.
- So does anyone know if this will hurt my guitar cab?
Origin
Late 20th century: abbreviation.
CAB3
abbreviation
1Citizens' Advice Bureau.
2US Civil Aeronautics Board.