taxi

taxi (ˈtæksɪ)

—n , pl taxis, taxies
1.	cab, Also called: taxicab a car, usually fitted with a taximeter, that may be hired, along with its driver, to carry passengers to any specified destination

—vb , taxis, taxies, taxies, taxiing, taxying, taxied
2.	to cause (an aircraft) to move along the ground under its own power, esp before takeoff and after landing, or (of an aircraft) to move along the ground in this way
3.	(intr) to travel in a taxi

[C20: shortened from taximeter cab]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

taxi

1907, shortening of taximeter cab (introduced in London in March 1907), from taximeter "automatic meter to record the distance and fare" (1898), from Fr. taximètre, from Ger. Taxameter (1890), coined from M.L. taxa "tax, charge." An earlier Eng. form was taxameter (1894), used in horse-drawn cabs.

The verb is first recorded 1911, from earlier noun use as slang for "aircraft." Taxicab is also first attested 1907. Taxi dancer "woman whose services may be hired at a dance hall" is recorded from 1930. Taxi squad in U.S. football is 1966, from a former Cleveland Browns owner who gave his reserves jobs with his taxicab company to keep them paid and available ["Dictionary of American Slang"], but other explanations (short-term hire or shuttling back and forth from the main team) seem possible.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

taxi
taxicab

The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia

taxi

chauffeur-driven automobile available for hire to carry passengers between any two points within a city or its suburbs for a fare determined by a meter or zone system or a flat rate. The taxicab is named after the taximeter, an instrument invented by Wilhelm Bruhn in 1891 that automatically recorded the distance traveled and/or the time consumed, thus enabling the fare to be accurately measured. The term cab derives from the cabriolet, a two-wheeled, one-horse carriage often let out for hire

Learn more about taxi with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Cite This Source

Example sentences

Taxi drivers held a one-day national strike to protest at a scheme to increase

the number of licences.

Taxi drivers complain that the bonanza they expected during the games has not

materialised.

Or a time you grabbed a magazine off a newsstand, or raised a hand to hail a

taxi.

They could power electrically driven wheels, letting an aircraft taxi without

using its main engines.