taxi
Definitions
General English
- noun a car which you can hire with a driver
Aviation
- verb to move an aircraft along the ground under its own power before take-off or after landing
Cars & Driving
- noun a car in which passengers are carried for a rate which is usually recorded by a meter
Travel
- noun a car which takes people from one place to another for money
- verb to go along the ground before takeoff or after landing
Origin & History of “taxi”
Taxi is
short for
taximeter cab, a
term coined
around 1890 for a cab fitted
with a taximeter, a
device for showing the
fare to be paid.
Taximeter (19
th c.) was borrowed
from French
taximètre, a
compound noun formed from
taxe ‘charge, tariff’ (a relative of
English tax) and
mètre ‘meter’.
