hub
noun /hʌb/
/hʌb/
- a central airport, station, etc. that operates many services
- The airport has become an international hub.
- It's the city's major transportation hub for bus and rail.
- Major hub airports have grown up all over the world.
- [usually singular] hub (of something) the central and most important part of a particular place or activity
- the commercial hub of the city
- The kitchen was the hub of family life.
- to be at the hub of things (= where things happen and important decisions are made)
- enlarge imagethe central part of a wheel
Word Originearly 16th cent. (denoting a shelf at the side of a fireplace used for heating pans): of unknown origin (compare with hob).