gypsy cab
3
8.6
- noun
- /ˈdʒɪpsi kæb/
- Offensive
:
taxi pirata
- I got rear-ended by a gypsy cab on Amsterdam.
- gypsy cab driver
- catch a gypsy cab
- driving a gypsy cab
Examples
-
Feeling like the worst mother on earth and not a much better detective, I take Janette down to the street and catch a gypsy cab to Gun Hill Road in the Bronx.
Fiction book (1999) -
We'll take a gypsy cab there and tell him to wait while we go inside.
-
"She and that boy caught a gypsy cab and went to the bus station.
Fiction book (1993) -
Those gypsy cab drivers don't keep a record of where they go or what.
-
It's highly recommended that you not take a gypsy cab, and either find a taxi in front of a hotel or phone one up.
-
Next, Alan negotiated a price with a gypsy cab driver for the trip to the North Fork of Long Island.
-
In cities, the most common underground activity is driving a gypsy cab.
Synonyms
382
1.0
A car with a driver people pay to drive them to a place
18
1.0
A car with a driver that people pay to take them where they want
4
2.1
A taxi painted yellow seen in cities like New York
4
9.4
An old word for a taxi
A car you pay to take you where you want in a city
A horse-drawn carriage that people hire like a taxi
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'Gypsy' (nomadic/ethnic group) and 'cab' (taxi) give a partial clue—learners might infer a taxi associated with Gypsies or informal/itinerant service. However, the exact sense 'unauthorized/unlicensed taxi' and the slang/pejorative connotations are culturally specific and not directly predictable from the words alone, so prior exposure is needed.
Etymology
Gypsy cab comes from an old use of gypsy to mean a traveler and cab for a taxi. One popular story says these cars moved around and were not part of the official service, so gypsy cab came to mean a 'not official' taxi that picks up people without a license.