▪ I. ‖ cab, n.1
(kæb)
Also kab.
[Heb. qab, prop. hollow or concave vessel, f. qbb to curve, hollow out.]
A Hebrew dry measure, according to the Rabbins the sixth part of a seah; about 25/6 imperial pints.
| 1535 Coverdale 2 Kings vi. 25 The fourth parte of a Cab of doues donge worth fyue syluer pens. 1611 ibid. kab. 1631 R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creat. iv. 29 Worse meate than huskes..yea old Shooes and leather..yea, Cabs, and Doves dung. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 364 In two cabs of dates there is one cab of stones. |
▪ II. cab, n.3 (
kæb)
1. a. A shortened form of
cabriolet, applied not only to the original vehicle so named and its improved successor the ‘hansom’, but also to four-wheeled carriages shaped like broughams; thus, a public carriage with two or four wheels, drawn by one horse, and seating two or four persons, of which various types are used in different towns. Applied also to motor-driven vehicles (see
taxi-cab).
b. for
cabman.
| 1827 Hone Every-day Bk. II. 461 Some [were] in gigs, some in cabs, some in drags. 1831 Macaulay Letter 28 May, I dressed, called a cab, and was whisked away to Hill Street. 1832 B. Hall Fragm. Voy. & Trav. Ser. ii. V. 115 Off I hurried in a cab, or more probably in a chariot, for this was some years before the glorious era of cabs. 1858 Lytton What will he do, &c. vi. i, My cab is waiting yonder. 1868 Daily News 30 Dec. 5 Cabs—or cabriolets, as they were first called—were not known to us until 1820. |
| 1850 Thackeray Pendennis xlvi, ‘Drive to Shepherd's Inn, Cab’. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 15 Nov. 4/3 The cab-without-a-horse. 1954 [see bumbling ppl. a.]. |
2. A small erection, somewhat like the head of a cabriolet, serving as a shelter to the drivers of locomotive engines, lorries, or cranes.
| 1864 in Webster s.v. Locomotive. 1877 M. Reynolds Locom. Engine Driving (1882) 47 The cab, or covering for the engine-driver and stoker, is erected over the foot plate. 1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 198/2 There is no cab, or place to put one. 1973 [see truck-driver s.v. truck n.2 5]. |
3. attrib. and in
Comb., as
cab-body,
cab-door,
cab-driver,
cab-driving,
cab-hire,
cab-hirer,
cab-master,
cab-minder,
cab-owner,
cab-proprietor,
cab-trade,
cab-user,
cab-washer,
cab wheel;
cab-box, the driver's seat on a cab;
cab-boy, a boy in livery who attends his master when driving to hold the horse, etc., a ‘tiger’;
cab-car, a larger vehicle than a cab (see
quot.);
cab-horse, a horse that draws a cab;
cab-rank, a row of cabs on a stand; also
transf. (see
quots.),
esp. a line of aircraft waiting in readiness; also
attrib.;
cab-runner,
cab-tout, one who makes a living by calling cabs;
cab-shelter, a shelter for cabmen;
cab-stand, a place where cabs are authorized to stand while waiting for hire;
cab-yard, a yard where cabs are kept when off duty. Also
cabman, etc.
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 30 Mar. 5/2 All Humber *cab-bodies are interchangeable. |
| 1868 Once a Week 11 Apr. 322 Planted upon a London *cab-box. |
| 1827 Lytton Pelham xlv, I sent my *cab-boy (vulgò Tiger) to inquire of the groom whether the horse was to be sold, and to whom it belonged. |
| 1882 Daily News 14 Jan. 31/4 The cab..is termed a ‘*cab-car’..the weight..is balanced upon the two hind wheels. The cab, which will contain five or six persons, is entered from the front. |
| 1888 A. C. Gunter Mr. Potter of Texas xxii. 261 He..opens the *cab door. |
| 1842 T. Martin in Fraser's Mag. Dec., A dozen or two of *cab-drivers. 1860 Ld. Lytton Lucile ii. iv. iv. 7 The complaint of a much disappointed cab-driver. |
| 1860 All Y. Round No. 44. 416 The business and trials of *cab-driving. 1885 Law Times LXXIX. 328/2 The cabdriving class. |
| 1840 Thackeray Paris Sk.-bk. (1885) 134 A prancing *cab-horse. 1858 Lytton What will he do, &c. (1860) III. vii. vii. 58 The finest cab-horse in London. |
| 1864 Soc. Science Rev. I. 407 The relations of *cab-masters and cab-men..*cab-owners and *cab-hirers. |
| 1898 Daily News 16 Nov. 5/4 C. B...described as a *cab minder. |
| 1884 St. James's Gaz. 25 Jan. 5/2 Madness may be more common on the *cab-rank than is suspected. 1919 Downing Digger Dial. 15 Cab-rank, transport lines. 1939 H. Hodge Cab, Sir? 268 Cab-ranks are appointed by the Commissioner of Police. 1945 Times 1 Mar. 5/7 A ‘cab-rank’ has been maintained over the bridgehead. Ibid. 6 Mar. 5/6 ‘Cab-rank’ fighter bombers have been overhead continuously. 1946 L. E. O. Charlton Britain at War IV. 275 R.A.F. Typhoons..came in time to develop..the ‘cab rank’ technique. Based on their own special air strips,..they there awaited a wireless summons. |
| 1883 St. James's Gaz. 1 June, The *cab-runner..is a very undesirable addition to modern civilization. |
| 1936 E. M. Forster Abinger Harvest i. 17, I heard profanity in the *cab-shelter. |
| 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair liv. 484 The people joked at the *cabstand about his appearance, as he took a carriage there. 1860 Tristram Gt. Sahara i. 4 Place Mahon, now merely the cab-stand of Algiers. 1863 Ld. Lytton Ring Amasis I. i. ii. viii. 190 Order a carriage from the nearest cabstand. |
| 1883 Daily News 6 June 5/2 When the cab reaches its goal the *cab-tout makes himself busy in unlading the luggage. |
| 1894 Westm. Gaz. 22 May 5/3 The ins and outs of the matter are but imperfectly understood by the mass of *cab-users. |
| 1897 Daily News 19 Oct. 2/3 The death of C. W...a *cabwasher. |
| 1862 Geo. Eliot Let. 12 Mar. (1956) IV. 21 The sound of *cab wheels. |
▪ III. cab, n.4 slang. (
kæb)
[short for cabbage n.2] A translation clandestinely used by a student in getting up his lessons; a crib.
| 1876 Academy 4 Nov. 448/2 The use of translations, ‘cribs’ or ‘cabs’, as boys call them, must at some time or other engage the serious attention of school-masters. |
▪ IV. cab, n.5 dial. [short for cabal.] ‘A small number of persons secretly united in the performance of some undertaking’. Parish
Sussex Dial.▪ V. cab, v.1 colloq. (
kæb)
[f. cab n.3] 1. intr. (Also
to cab it). To travel or go in a cab.
| 1835 Dickens Let. ? 29 Oct. (1965) I. 84 Worth your while to walk or Cab so far East. 1845 W. C. Macready Diary 1 Aug. (1912) II. 300 Walked and cabbed down to Forster. |
| 1858 Bailey Age 30 Cabbing from Hyde Park Corner to the Tower. 1860 Chamb. Jrnl. XIV. 116 We may ‘cab’ it..we may 'bus it; or we may go by boat. 1866 C. H. Robinson Diary III. 520, I cabbed it home. 1882 Blackw. Mag. Feb. 238/1 He..cabs off to take advice. |
2. To drive a cab.
Cf. cabbing vbl. n.| 1887 A. Conan Doyle Study in Scarlet (1888) ii. vi. 160, I went on cabbing it for a day or so. 1939 H. Hodge Cab, Sir? 19 When a man first starts cabbing, he usually rubs his neck sore with this constant turning of his head. |
▪ VI. cab, v.2 slang. [? short for cabbage: cf. cab n.4] To pilfer, snatch dishonestly or meanly; to ‘crib’.
| Mod. Schoolboy slang. You've cabbed that apple on your way up. |