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• cab
  cab

  noun

  a taxicab.
• CAB
  CAB

  Civil Aeronautics Board.

cab

¹ American  

[kab] / kæb /

noun

1. a taxicab.

   Synonyms:

   jitney, hackney, hack

2. any of various horse-drawn vehicles, as a hansom or brougham, especially one for public hire.

   Synonyms:

   jitney, hackney, hack

3. the covered or enclosed part of a locomotive, truck, crane, etc., where the operator sits.

4. the glass-enclosed area of an airport control tower in which the controllers are stationed.

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verb (used without object)

cabbed, cabbing

1. to ride in a taxicab or horse-drawn cab.

   They cabbed to the theater.

cab ² American  

[kab] / kæb /

Or kab

noun

1. an ancient Hebrew measure equal to about two quarts.

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cab ³ American  

[kab] / kæb /

noun

Chiefly British.

1. cabbage.

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CAB ⁴ American  

Or C.A.B.

1. Civil Aeronautics Board.

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cab ¹ British  

/ kæb /

noun

1. 1. a taxi

   2. ( as modifier )

      a cab rank

2. the enclosed compartment of a lorry, locomotive, crane, etc, from which it is driven or operated

3. (formerly) a light horse-drawn vehicle used for public hire

4. informal the first person, etc, to do or take advantage of something

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CAB ² British  

abbreviation

1. (in Britain) Citizens' Advice Bureau

2. (in the US) Civil Aeronautics Board

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cab ³ British  

/ kæb /

noun

1. an ancient Hebrew measure equal to about 2.3 litres (4 pints)

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Etymology

Origin of cab¹

First recorded in 1640–50; short for cabriolet

Origin of cab²

First recorded in 1525–35; from Hebrew qabh

Explanation

A cab is a taxi, a car whose driver you pay to take you where you need to go. It can feel like a competitive sport to hail a cab in New York City. Your cab driver may talk incessantly while she drives you to the airport, or you might ride in a cab that's silent except for the sound of its horn honking at other drivers. You can also call the front part of a truck, where the driver sits, the cab. In the 1820s, the word meant "horse-drawn carriage," short for the French cabriolet, "leap or caper." The Latin root is capreolus, "wild goat."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cab CAB cabbed cabbing

Consider when Gail and Otto arrive in Hollywood and hop in a cab driven by Richard Kind.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026

A cab took him over the Queensboro Bridge, but he hit traffic.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026

Towards the end of the night, a friend called Gemma a taxi, while another cab was called for Holder.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

Police found a 15-foot U-Haul truck abandoned on private property with two dogs in the cab.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2026

Now the cabbie and trucker were sitting on the cab hood exchanging phone numbers.

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

"I'm going to give it my all until the end of the season to finish this adventure with CAB in the best possible way."

From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2026

"We found an unexpected chemical complexity, with abundances far higher than predicted by current theoretical models," explains lead author Dr. Ismael García Bernete formerly of Oxford University and now a researcher at CAB.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 12, 2026

Britain's CAB Payments has taken the rare step of setting a fixed price for its share offering that values it at the lower end of its previously reported range.

From Reuters ● Jun. 30, 2023

A CAB pilot who re-created Bridoux’s route in a similar P-38, noted that downward visibility was poor and his left elbow repeatedly hit the radio knob, turning down the volume.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 21, 2021

There exist three distinct points A, B, C not in any of the orders ABC, BCA, CAB.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 6 "Geodesy" to "Geometry" by Various

Refusing to give up, Foster had a board mix put together of the first performance and cabbed it to the radio station.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2015

Their daughter told them she "cabbed it" but they say they do not know how she actually traveled cross-country or where she has been staying.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 26, 2013

On Thursday night, I cabbed it to my goddaughter’s house in Fort Greene.

From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2012

In cabbed, high-powered, 4�-ton snowmobiles,* Canadian-designed for the invasion of Norway, they would plow northward through long Arctic nights and through temperatures 50� or more below zero.

From Time Magazine Archive

It’s like a slower, 1950s version of the real city across that cool bridge we cabbed over last night.

From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle

The day before E3 officially kicks off this year, I’ll be liveblogging the Ubisoft press conference, then cabbing it over to the L.A.

From Forbes ● Jun. 2, 2014

Max is a dreamer; a lonely man whose ideal of running a limo service is still unrealised after 12 years of "temporary" cabbing.

From Time Magazine Archive

"Who's a-goin' to be bullied by any cove because he is a cabbing passinger?" and he gave Blake an almost imperceptible wink.

From Tom Gerrard by Becke, Louis

And then I’ll tell you I’m tired of this cabbing cruise, and I want to get to work again.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 13 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis

I went on cabbing it for a day or so, intending to keep at it until I could save enough to take me back to America.

From A Study in Scarlet by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir

Related Words

• carriage
• taxi
• taxicab