Meaning & use
hackney cab
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableBritishformal
A taxi licensed to be hired on the street, especially in British cities.
Grammar: Countable: a hackney cab, hackney cabs.
Patterns
- hail a hackney cab
She hailed a hackney cab outside the station.
Only a licensed hackney cab may pick up passengers on the street.
The driver spent years learning routes before getting a hackney cab licence.
nouncountableold-fashioned
A horse-drawn carriage for public hire, as used in earlier centuries.
Grammar: Historical sense.
Patterns
- ride in a hackney cab
Dickens' London was full of hackney cabs.
He rode in a hackney cab through foggy streets.
A hackney cab waited outside the theater.
Word forms
| plural | hackney cabs |
|---|
Common combinations
- hail a hackney cab
- He hailed a hackney cab.
- licensed hackney cab
- A licensed hackney cab takes fares.
- hackney cab driver
- The hackney cab driver knew every street.
- traditional hackney cab
- The traditional hackney cab is black.
Synonyms and how they differ
- taxi
- Taxi is the general word everywhere.
- black cab
- Black cab is the everyday name for the London hackney cab.
- hansom
- A hansom was a specific horse-drawn cab.
- minicab
- A minicab must be booked in advance, unlike a hackney cab.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: hackney cab or Hackney?
hackney cab vs Hackney
Hackney is also a district of London; the cab name comes from an older word for hired horse.
Practice
In London, a taxi that can be hailed in the street is officially called a ___.
Choose one answer.
Hackney cabs are the street-hailed taxis. Minicabs must be pre-booked.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hackney cab”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.