hansom cab
2
9.9
- noun
- /ˈhænsəm kæb/
- Archaic
:
cabriolet
- We hailed a hansom cab to take us to the theater for the evening performance.
- a hansom cab ride
- a hansom cab driver
- hansom cab through Central Park
Examples
-
I have a hansom cab waiting for me outside.
-
Within a few minutes more, he and his single suitcase were inside a hansom cab heading for the opulent Hotel Pandora, two miles away.
Fiction book (2002) -
Then a hansom cab ride through Central Park.
-
A hansom cab was called.
Fiction book (1990) -
He's picking me up in a hansom cab.
-
We entered one of the hansom cabs queued up outside of The Player's Club.
Fiction book (1990) -
General Feversham and Colonel Sutch wait in line for a hansom cab.
Fiction book (2002) -
The driver of the hansom cab held the reins loosely in his hands as the horse made yet another circuit around Central Park.
Fiction book (1992) -
Thomas Boynton arrived at 6 Bruce Villas the next day by hansom cab.
Fiction book (1998) -
The hansom cab clattered over the damp stones of the street, shaking them to and fro.
Blog text (19)
Synonyms
10
8.8
A small two-wheeled carriage with two seats and a folding hood
3
9.9
A small two-wheeled horse carriage with a covered passenger seat and the driver behind
A horse-drawn carriage that people hire like a taxi
A taxi allowed to pick up people on the street
How Enclosed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'hansom' (a carriage with a raised driver's seat) and 'cab' (a small two‑wheeled carriage): together they denote a specific type/subtype of cab. This is a straightforward noun‑noun compound following regular compositional patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would understand the MWE.
Etymology
Hansom cab is named after the inventor Joseph Hansom and the word cab, which meant a small 'carriage'; he made a low, fast two-wheeled vehicle with a covered place for passengers and the driver sitting high behind them. That clear picture of a small covered box pulled by a horse helps explain why the name means that kind of city horse-drawn 'taxi'.