† Cabn.1
Obsolete.
A Royalist in the English Civil War (1642–9); a Cavalier. Cf. keb n.2
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > [noun] > cavalier or royalist cause > supporter of
rattle-head1641
cavalier1642
delinquent1642
long head1642
malignant1642
Cab1644
cavy1645
kebc1645
rattlepate1646
cave1661
heroic1682
1644 Hulls Managing of Kingdoms Cause 25 The namy of Fairfax is to the Cabs a terrour.
1650 A. B. Mutatus Polemo 16 The poor Cabbs had been all surprised, if not surrendred to our Parliament Army.
1650 A. B. Mutatus Polemo 18 A convention of the Scots States in Parliament which puts the Cabs..into a shrewd fright.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
cabn.2
/kab/, U.S. /kæb/ 1.
a. Any of various types of carriage, usually hooded or enclosed, having two or four wheels, and drawn by a single horse; esp. one licensed to transport passengers to a destination of their choice in return for payment of a fare. Now chiefly historical (frequently in horse-drawn cab, horse and cab).Horse-drawn cabs were a widespread means of urban transport until superseded by motorized taxis in the early 20th cent. (see sense 1b). Most were hansoms, a light two-wheeled carriage with seating for two passengers (see hansom cab n.), though larger four-wheeled cabs were also common (especially Clarences, also known colloquially as growlers).In earliest use spec. with reference to a cabriolet (cabriolet n. 1a), on which the design of the hansom was modelled.See also Gurney cab, horse-cab n., hackney cab n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles (plying) for hire > [noun] > hackney carriage
hackney coach1618
hell-cart1623
hackney1664
hack1692
fiacre1699
hackney carriage1735
dilly1805
street coach1818
jarvey1819
cab1822
hackney cab1832
gurney1884
cabriolet1907
1822 H. Smith Let. in A. H. Beavan J. & H. Smith (1899) xx. 214 You have no occasion for your friendly fear that I must have been ‘first knocked down, and then up by a bus or a cab’.
1831 T. B. Macaulay Let. 28 May in G. O. Trevelyan Life & Lett. Macaulay (1876) I. 206 I dressed, called a cab, and was whisked away to Hill Street.
1862 Chambers's Jrnl. 22 Nov. 333/1 Of ‘four-wheelers’ and ‘Hansoms’, there are nearly five thousand in London. Each cab is obliged to have a number, for which the owner pays one shilling a day.
1907 A. C. Fox-Davies Dangerville Inheritance xix. 265 Parkyns..climbed to the box and whipped up the horse as Yardley sprang into the cab.
1978 Financial Times 1 July 10/1 By eight o'clock on a Sunday morning in New York, the horse-drawn cabs are already lining up to catch customers for a ride in Central Park.
2008 Times 27 Sept. 57/3 Most horse-drawn cabs had gone by the end of the First World War.
b. A motor vehicle licensed to transport passengers to a destination of their choice in return for payment of a fare, and usually fitted with a taximeter; a taxi. Cf. taxicab n.Now the usual sense.Originally used to denote any of various early (typically electric) forms of automobile having a body resembling that of a horse-drawn cab, and usually, though not necessarily, licensed for hire.See also hackney cab n., black cab n., minicab n., motor cab n., yellow cab n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles (plying) for hire > [noun] > taxi
cab1882
taximeter cab1898
taximeter1899
taxi1907
taxicab1907
special hire1950
1882 Manch. Weekly Times 18 Mar. (Suppl.) 8/2 The promoters are sanguine enough to believe that at no distant day they may be able also to introduce electric cabs and omnibuses.
1898 Age of Steel 17 Dec. 11 Each cab is fitted with two two-horse-power electric motors, one of which is geared to the driving wheel.
1899 Standard 3 Apr. 3/4 Automobile cabs have plied for hire for the first time on the streets of Paris to-day, and have met with a great success.
1922 Daily Mail 13 Mar. 8/4 The ever-increasing burden of motor traffic, tramway cars, cabs, and cycles.
1992 J. Crace Arcadia iii. v. 238 He..embarked upon an anecdote about a client's file that he'd once lost in New York, in a cab.
2015 Independent 21 May (Lifestyle Lowdown section) 5/1 Your mobile is no longer just for Instagramming, hailing a cab or Tweeting your latest thoughts.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport by vehicles plying for hire > [noun] > driving or hiring of cabs > driver of hired cab > of hackney-coach or cab
hackney coachman1623
hack1662
hack driver1709
hackman1796
jarvey1820
cab1850
1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. viii. 91 Drive to Shepherd's Inn, Cab.
3.
a. On a train: the covered or enclosed compartment which houses the driver or operating crew; (also) a covered or enclosed compartment of a crane, tractor, etc., in which the driver or operator sits.See also locomotive cab n., railway cab n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > locomotive > cab for driver
cab1858
1858 Lowell (Mass.) Daily Citizen & News 11 Mar. The ‘cab’ of the locomotive Alvah Crocker, on the Fitchburg railroad, took fire while the engineer and fireman were at dinner Tuesday noon, and was destroyed.
1882 M. Reynolds Locom. Engine Driving 47 The cab, or covering for the engine-driver and stoker, is erected over the foot plate.
1952 Pop. Sci. Oct. 147/2 With this crane..we get our maximum lifting capacity when the main hoist is 17½ horizontal feet from the pivoting point of the cab.
1981 United Press Internat. Newswire (Nexis) 16 Sept. Davis visited the Auckland railway station and climbed into the driver's cab of one of the Canadian-built DF locomotives made for New Zealand railways.
2015 M. Miller Internet of Things xiv. 289 (caption) The cab of a John Deere S-series tractor, enabled with FarmSight technology.
b. The enclosed part of the body of a lorry or truck in which the driver and any passengers sit. Often with modifying word indicating size or style, e.g. a regular cab is a pickup cab having a single row of seats and two doors; a double cab has two rows of seats and four doors. Cf. crew cab n. at crew n.1 Additions.See also cab-forward adj., cab-over adj., tilt cab n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > motor lorry, truck, or van > [noun] > truck or lorry > cab or type of cab
cab1916
cab-over1943
tilt cab1963
1916 Boston Sunday Globe 16 Apr. 65/2 The men spent that night in the truck cab with the driving rain beating against its sides.
1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy vii. 175 Pin-ups used to be, and still are, standard decoration for servicemen's billets and the cabs of lorries.
1973 ‘R. MacLeod’ Burial in Portugal iii. 71 A truck driver leaned out of his cab and shouted a greeting.
2017 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 3 Sept. a1 At the sprawling GM assembly plant in Wentzville, a nearly 9-ton robot named Godzilla grabs pickup cabs off the ground floor and places them on a second-floor conveyor so body shop workers can install doors and hoods.
4. A baby carriage or pram. More fully baby cab. Now rare.Increasingly uncommon after the first decade of the 20th cent.
ΚΠ
1864 Daily Cleveland (Ohio) Herald 28 Apr. Box 1547—Baby Cab or Wagon.
1888 S. M. I. Henry Beforehand xxix. 402 Philip..saw Malcolm Sloan go by with the Sloan baby in its cab.
1933 Pop Mech. May 758/1 (heading) Baby cab keeps up with car in march of progress.
5. Originally and chiefly North American. The passenger compartment of a lift or elevator. Cf. car n.1 2b.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > other means of conveyance > [noun] > lift or hoist > parts of
car1847
cab1873
lift-gate1948
1873 Specif. of Patents (U.S. Patent Office) 1 Apr. 127/1 A is the hoistway, and B the cab or traveling platform of the elevator.
1952 Jrnl. Soc. Archit. Historians 11 15/2 In 1872 the geared hydraulic elevator was developed. This consisted of a cylinder and piston, mounted near the elevator, which raised and lowered the cab with cables and pulleys.
2008 New Yorker 21 Apr. 113/3 Elevator surfing—riding on top of the cab, for kicks—is dangerous.
6. The glass-enclosed control area at the top of an airport control tower.
ΚΠ
1951 Van Nuys (Calif.) News 13 Aug. 10 a/3 Floor of the new cab is 70 feet above the ground... Just below the tower cab is the office of the chief controller.
1974 Times 3 Sept. 16/3 The controllers' displays will be readable in daylight in the control tower ‘cab’ (from where the controllers view the airport).
2009 Intermountain Contractor (Nexis) 1 Dec. 12 A 550-sq-ft cab at the top seats five air traffic controllers and allows for future growth.
Phrases
Originally and chiefly Australian. the first (or next, last, etc.) cab off the rank: the first (or next, last, etc.) in a series of people or things to arrive or appear; the first (or next, last, etc.) in line. Cf. cab rank n. 1.
ΚΠ
1952 Sydney Sportsman 7 Feb. 3/5 Haydock was repeatedly cramped for room down the running, yet when Royal Signal Argentina and Taranta Ra went over the line, he was next cab off the rank.
1953 Sporting Globe (Melbourne) 1 July 9/2 At 6 a.m. on Monday Breasley is first cab off the rank at Croydon aerodrome in England to meet the plane.
1984 Canberra Times 26 Oct. 16/3 Fenton told me that if Anderson left, I'd be first cab off the rank to replace him.
2005 Cineaste Spring 69/1 The latest cab off the rank, Volume 4 of Alain Silver and James Ursini's Film Noir Reader, mines new insights and unearths some not-usual suspects for its contributor list.
2018 L. Hill Secret Vineyard i. 13 He chose her because she happened to be the first cab at the taxi rank—his one-way ticket out of the ‘trap’ he thought he was in.
Compounds
C1.
a. General use as a modifier, as in cab company, cab door, cab hire, cab window, etc.Recorded earliest in cab-boy n. at Compounds 2.
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1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham II. viii. 69 I sent my cab boy (vulgo Tiger) to inquire of the groom, whether it [sc. the horse] was to be sold, and to whom it belonged.
1829 Times 14 Oct. Coach House and extensive Stabling for horses..well adapted for a livery stable-keeper, coach or cab. master.
1840 Morning Post 4 Feb. He lowered the cab window to call a police constable.
1888 A. C. Gunter Mr. Potter xxii. 261 He..opens the cab door.
1890 Speaker 8 Mar. 256/2 Across the garden came the sound of cab-wheels rattling over the distant streets.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 30 Mar. 5/2 All Humber cab-bodies are interchangeable.
1954 Economist 27 Mar. 931/2 If it [sc. the Legislature] fix the rate of cab hire, it must, in justice, fix the extent of cab employment.
2009 Independent 2 Mar. (Life section) 9/2 The good lady in question owned a chip shop and cab company in Nuuk, Greenland.
b. With participles, agent nouns, and verbal nouns, forming compounds in which cab expresses the object of the underlying verb, as in cab hirer, cab operator, cab owner, cab user, etc.Recorded earliest in cab driver n. at Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1825 T. Hook Sayings & Doings 2nd Ser. III. vi. 56 The exclamations of coachmen in the rear, desiring the cab-driver, (invisible to them), to ‘pull on a bit’.
1864 Social Sci. Rev. 1 407 The relations of cab-masters and cab-men..cab-owners and cab-hirers.
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.
1907 Daily Mail 11 May 3/4 In order to keep observation on certain houses Gregory often adopted the rôle of a pavement artist. Another disguise was that of a cab-minder on the ranks.
1922 National Taxicab & Motorbus Jrnl. Apr. 31/3 An important news item concerning the activities of cab manufacturers is contained in this announcement.
2016 Toronto Star (Nexis) 13 Feb. in7 Cab owners and operators pay their various licence fees in good faith and are free to choose when they work, and when they don't.
C2.
cab box n. now rare and chiefly historical the driver's seat of a horse-drawn cab.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > carriage for conveying persons > [noun] > parts of > seat > driver's seat
coach-coffer1607
box1625
coach-box1651
box seat1771
driving box1778
dicky1801
dicky box1801
cab box1840
1840 Central Criminal Court: Minutes of Evid. 12 570 I jumped off the cab-box, and ran after Gilchrist, but did not apprehend him that morning.
1922 Sat. Evening Post 14 Oct. 48/2 ‘How have you learned all this?’ we said, amazed at the bundle of shabby clothes which usually sits on a cab box turning out to be a linguist.
1990 A. Perry Bethlehem Road (2011) 268 Micah Drummond..could see nothing except Pitt, rigid on the cab box.
cab-boy n. now historical and rare a boy in livery employed to attend a horse-drawn cab as a footman or groom (cf. tiger n. 6a); (also) a boy whose occupation is driving a horse-drawn cab.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > driver or operator of vehicle > [noun] > boy who attends his master when driving
tiger1825
cab-boy1828
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > [noun] > liveried > boy > who attends his master when driving
cab-boy1828
1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham II. viii. 69 I sent my cab boy (vulgo Tiger) to inquire of the groom, whether it [sc. the horse] was to be sold, and to whom it belonged.
1861 Hints to Travellers Overland Route to India, Austral., & China (Pop. Overland Guide) 50 The calesse drivers—the cabmen, or rather the cab-boys, of the place.
1918 G. Moore Story-teller's Holiday vii. 27 I've often heard Sir Hugh say that he picked him from the hedge and that he became immediately after the best cab-boy in London.
1998 Times 19 Dec. 30/2 A small, round-faced cab-boy in the snowy street below, wearing hat and muffler of the brightest blue.
cab car n. †(a) a large type of horse-drawn cab (obsolete) (b) (North American) a passenger train carriage having a driver's compartment at one or both ends.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles (plying) for hire > [noun] > hackney carriage > specific types of hackney carriage
noddy?1764
hack1769
Patent Safety1835
Patent Safety Cab1836
hansom cab1847
cab car1853
shoful1853
growler1865
midge1865
1853 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 16 Dec. At about half-past one o'clock on yesterday a cab car took head in the neighbourhood of the Provost's house in Grafton-street.
1875 Railroad Gaz. 24 July 311/2 During the year one baggage, 15 box, 40 coal, and 2 cab cars were built.
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.
1974 Times 8 Apr. (Quebec special report) p. iii/5 You can fly or drive, but the train, with its magnificent cab car and legion of attendants, is the best way.
2002 Intercity Passenger Rail Transportation (Amer. Assoc. State Highway & Transportation Officials) 70 Rebuilt AEM7 electric locomotives will replace the diesels currently operating on the route, and new cab cars will be purchased to allow push-pull operation.
cab driver n. a person whose occupation is driving a taxicab or (formerly) taxi carriage; a taxi driver.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport by vehicles plying for hire > [noun] > driving or hiring of cabs > driver of hired cab
cab driver1825
cabman1828
cabbie1829
duck-shover1898
mini-man1961
1825 T. Hook Sayings & Doings 2nd Ser. III. vi. 56 The exclamations of coachmen in the rear, desiring the cab-driver, (invisible to them), to ‘pull on a bit’.
1959 G. J. W. Goodman Wheeler Dealers i. (stage direct.) 5 Henry Tyroon appears, followed by a cab driver wearing an appropriate cap and carrying a shiny black attaché case.
2009 Private Eye 18 Sept. 22/1 Now they're teaching him how to be a cab driver, driving round London in a black cab.
cab driving n. and adj. (a) n. the action or occupation of driving a taxicab or (formerly) taxi carriage; taxi driving; (b) adj. (attributive) that drives a taxicab or (formerly) taxi carriage; relating to or involving cab driving.
ΚΠ
1829 Spectator 12 Dec. 788/2 Cigar-smoking, cab-driving.., were the more prominent of the subjects to which allusion was made.
1873 H. Smart False Cards III. 15 Around the tables are grouped all the varieties of the cab-driving class, from the driver of the swell hansom..to the driver of the night-cab.
1944 Russ. Rev. 4 32 The Russian Military Academy could hardly have been good preparation for cab-driving in Missouri.
1998 Afro-Amer. Red Star (Electronic ed.) 16 May a1 By 1964, he and a cab-driving friend had saved enough money to launch H & J (Hamer and Johnson) Taxicab Co.
2018 Evening Times (Glasgow) (Nexis) 30 Oct. 10 Cab driving is a very stressful job.
cab fare n. the price or cost of a ride in a taxicab or (formerly) taxi carriage; money used to pay for this.
ΚΠ
1829 Standard 9 Nov. This chariot running for cab fares.
1944 Fortune Mar. 207/1 The hotel was obliged to send 200 incoming guests with reservations to other hotels, paying their cab fare and any difference in rates.
2018 Washington Post (Nexis) 13 Nov. a15 The rise of driverless cars is expected to displace workers, slash cab fares and give people a new place to have sex.
cab horse n. now chiefly historical a horse used to pull a cab (sense 1a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > draught-horse > that pulls vehicle > of specific type (miscellaneous)
chareter1601
gigstera1812
van horse1820
cab horse1828
cabber1832
stanhope horse1836
vanner1854
sledder1869
trapper1883
trammer1889
fly-horse1891
busser1894
1828 Morning Post 29 May To be Sold, a Bay Gelding, five years old, sixteen hands and a half high, well bred, good action, and will make an extraordinarily good Cab Horse.
1918 E. Wharton Let. 7 July (1988) 407 Everything & everybody was beflagged, from buildings to cab-horses.
2013 H. Velten Beastly London ii. 51/2 It only took three years for cab horses to become exhausted.
cab ride n. a journey in a taxicab or (formerly) taxi carriage.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport by vehicles plying for hire > [noun] > journey in a taxi
cab ride1840
taxi ride1910
1840 Morning Herald (N.Y.) 2 May ‘My first Cab Ride’, a letter from a lady to the editor.
1904 Punch 13 July 25/2 I yesterday took three cab rides, each just short of two miles, and tendered the drivers their legal fare of one shilling.
2008 J. Peacock Cure for Night 293 Myra and I didn't speak on the short cab ride to her apartment.
cab runner n. now historical a person (usually a boy or young man) who hails horse-drawn cabs for passengers, assists with luggage, etc., in return for tips; cf. cab tout n. (a).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > message > [noun] > messenger > cab-tout or -runner
cab tout1869
cab runner1883
1883 Standard 15 May 2/7 Two young men—John Ferriss and Thomas Edmunds, the former described as a cab-runner, and the latter as a porter.
1904 K. Tynan Luck of Fairfaxes iii. 44 A miserable outcast of a cab-runner, exhausted from following the cab, had seized on the luggage and was carrying it into the house despite Mary-Anne's remonstrances.
2013 P. Andersson Streetlife in Late Victorian London vi. 177 The nuisance of the cab runner's behaviour rests on two things—his insolence and his obtrusiveness.
cab shelter n. a small wooden hut serving as a shelter for cab drivers, and typically selling food and drink; = cabmen's shelter n. at cabman n. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport by vehicles plying for hire > [noun] > driving or hiring of cabs > station for vehicles plying for hire > shelter for cabmen
cab shelter1875
1875 Women & Work 20 Mar. 4/3 A new cab shelter erected at Langham-place has already been largely patronised by the cabmen.
1936 E. M. Forster Abinger Harvest i. 17 I heard profanity in the cab-shelter.
2009 A. Thirlwell Escape i. 32 In the cab shelter opposite Hatton Garden..Haffner sat at a table.
cab stand n. an area in which taxicabs or (formerly) taxi carriages are authorized to wait for business; a taxi rank.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport by vehicles plying for hire > [noun] > driving or hiring of cabs > station for vehicles plying for hire
standa1732
rank1829
standing1831
cab stand1832
coach-stand1834
hazard1836
ranking1903
taxi rank1907
taxi station1912
1832 Morning Chron. 15 Mar. The public were loudly complaining of the inconvenience they were put to, in not knowing where to find a cab-stand.
1863 Ld. Lytton Ring of Amasis I. i. ii. viii. 190 Order a carriage from the nearest cabstand.
1941 Washington Post 12 Sept. 21/5 (headline) Van Duzer approves plan for cab stands at corners.
2017 Philadelphia Inquirer (Nexis) 3 Sept. I asked the bartender for the best place to hail a taxi. She excused herself from other patrons and walked with me two blocks to the cab stand.
cab tout n. (a) = cab runner n. (now historical and rare); (b) (now) a person employed to persuade travellers to hire a taxi from a particular operator (often an unlicensed or illegal one).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > message > [noun] > messenger > cab-tout or -runner
cab tout1869
cab runner1883
1869 Birmingham Daily Gaz. 5 Aug. 4/4 A cab tout..had been felled and mutilated..by a policeman simply for offering his services to procure a vehicle.
1883 Daily News 6 June 5/2 When the cab reaches its goal the cab-tout makes himself busy in unlading the luggage.
1922 C. E. Montague Disenchantment ii. 15 A little famished London cab-tout, a recruit, still rectilinear as a starved cat even after a month of army rations.
2014 Evening Standard (Nexis) 13 Feb. (headline) 57 Fight the menace of illegal cab touts.
cab yard n. now chiefly historical a yard where taxicabs or (formerly) taxi carriages are kept when off duty.
ΚΠ
1833 Morning Advertiser 25 Oct. Mr. James Young's hackney and cab-yard.
1908 Trades for London Boys 66 Most omnibus and cab yards have a farrier's shop attached.
2006 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 22 Mar. f1 The city's Brazilian cab drivers liked to eat at a secret temporary night kitchen near a cab yard.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
† cabn.3
English regional (Sussex). Obsolete.
A secret political clique or faction, a cabal.
ΚΠ
1838 W. Holloway Gen. Dict. Provincialisms 23/2 Cab, a small number of persons secretly united in the performance of some undertaking [Also in later dictionaries.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019).
† cabn.4
British School slang. Obsolete.
A translation or other piece of writing surreptitiously used by a student; a crib. Cf. cabbage n.3 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [noun] > crib
crib1828
cab1849
cabbage1870
1849 M. Arnold Let. Mar. in Lett. to Clough (1932) 103 If it [sc. Clough's fragment of translation of Homer] is to be more than a cab, you must Anglicise.
1853 ‘C. Bede’ Adventures Mr. Verdant Green vii. 64 Why, in Oxford, a coach means a private tutor, you must know; and those who can't afford a coach, get a cab—alias a crib,—alias a translation.
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.
1878 H. C. Adams Wilton of Cuthbert's xxi. 322 At the upper end of the room sat one of the examiners..keeping a watchful eye on the movements of the examinees—not so watchful as in the instance of the passmen, for here there is comparatively little fear of surreptitious Ainsworths or ‘cabs’, but still vigilant to prevent possible promptings or mutual accommodation.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
cabn.5
/kab/, U.S. /kæb/ A robust box-like casing containing one or more loudspeakers used in the amplification of an electric instrument (esp. an electric guitar) or as part of a public address system. Cf. speaker cab n. at speaker n. Additions, speaker cabinet n. at speaker n. Additions.For use with an electric guitar, a separate amplifier unit known as a head (head n.1 21) is typically placed on top of one or two cabs, the whole arrangement being known as a stack (see stack n. Additions).
ΚΠ
1974 Washington Post 27 Oct. n4/4 Bass—Precision. 2 Marshall cabs.
2002 D. Duncan Live Sound Man. 85/2 You'll have a bit more work to find the right settings if the PA cabs aren't vertically aligned.
2012 @jonboyes 5 Apr. in twitter.com (O.E.D Archive) My first amp was a knackered 50w head and 4x12 cab.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
cabn.6
/kab/, U.S. /kæb/, Australian English /kæb/ colloquial (originally Australian).
Any of various wines made from Cabernet grapes; esp. Cabernet Sauvignon. Cf. cab sav n.
ΚΠ
1974 Canberra Times 26 June 25/5 (advt.) San Bernardino Cab.
1988 Globe & Mail (Canada) (Nexis) 30 Apr. Among reds, the merlots and cabs show well, while the pinot noirs are forgettable.
2018 Tampa Bay Times (Nexis) 1 Aug. (Taste section) 3 A curated wine list very strong on Napa cabs and big-name California chards.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
† cabv.1
slang. Obsolete.
transitive. To pilfer, purloin; to acquire (property) in a dishonest or underhand manner. Cf. cabbage v.2 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > petty theft or pilfering > pilfer [verb (transitive)]
mitcha1393
pelfa1400
purloinc1475
prowl?1529
finger1530
pilfer1532
lurchc1565
filch1567
filch1574
proloyne1581
nim1606
hook1615
truff1718
snaffle1725
crib1735
pettifog1759
magg1762
niffle1785
cabbage1793
weed1811
nibble1819
cab1825
smouch1826
snuga1859
mooch1862
attract1891
souvenir1897
rat1906
snipe1909
promote1918
salvage1918
smooch1941
1825 W. Scott Jrnl. 8 Dec. (1972) 30 Cabbing a pension in these times is like hunting a pig with a soap'd tail.
1840 Comic Almanack Feb. 216 They cabb'd the booty all away.
1888 N.E.D. at Cab v.2 Mod. Schoolboy slang. You've cabbed that apple on your way up.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019).
cabv.2
/kab/, U.S. /kæb/ colloquial.
1.
a. intransitive. To travel in a taxicab or (formerly) taxi carriage.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport by vehicles plying for hire > [verb (intransitive)] > travel by cab or taxi
cab1831
hack1877
hansom1890
taxi1909
1831 Age 10 July 221/1 Cabbed into the Park, and then home to dress for dinner.
1882 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 238/1 He..cabs off to take advice.
1971 P. Lovesey Detective wore Silk Drawers xiv. 151 They'll be taking the eleven-forty to Fenchurch Street and then cabbing across to London Bridge.
2017 Australian (Nexis) 8 Jan. 71 I cabbed, I Ubered, I commuted with meth-heads on the bus.
b. transitive with it, in the same sense.
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1836 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 111 I was obliged to cab it, omnibus it, and run it the whole morning.
1905 V. Harper Mortgage on Brain x. 101 We cabbed it to Chelsea, and then she said she was afraid that it was Chiswick where he lived. We cabbed it to Chiswick, and then she said she thought it must be Putney.
2016 Tampa Bay Times (Nexis) 3 Oct. (Sports section) 6 We hear he even cabbed it to the game!
2. intransitive. To drive a taxicab or (formerly) taxi carriage; to work as a cab driver. Also transitive with it. Cf. cabbing n.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport by vehicles plying for hire > [verb (intransitive)] > drive a cab
cab1887
1887 A. Conan Doyle in Beeton's Christmas Ann. 50 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.
2009 Guardian (Nexis) 9 Oct. (G2 section) 23 I've cabbed in the area for 30 years.
3. transitive. To drive or accompany (a person) in a taxicab or (formerly) taxi carriage; to transport by taxicab.
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1906 Bulletin (Oliver Typewriter Co., Chicago) 10 Mar. 687/2 I've carried you, expressed you, cabbed you, bussed you and thrown you all over this blessed country.
1990 T. Seidler Take Good Look 42 He rehearsed ways of slipping Los Angeles into the conversation they'd have when he walked or cabbed her home after work.
2013 @kfitz 9 July in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) The part of moving to my new apt I dreaded most was putting the cats in the carriers to cab them to Brooklyn.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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