cab

Cab is a common noun with several related meanings in transport and everyday language. The most widely used sense in many English-speaking countries is taxi, a car licensed to transport passengers for a fare. Such vehicles are often referred to as cabs or taxicabs, and the person who drives them as a cab driver or cabbie. The word cab is historically short for cabriolet, a light horse-drawn carriage, and the term began to apply to motorized taxis in the early 20th century. In British English, hackney carriage is a formal term, while cab and taxi are widely used in colloquial speech; fares may be metered or prearranged.

A second major sense refers to the enclosed space in a vehicle where the driver or crew operates the controls—the cab of a truck, bus, locomotive, or other vehicle. The cab is designed to protect occupants from the weather and to house the control instruments. In rail transport, this is called the locomotive or train driver's cab; many freight and passenger vehicles feature a separate cab and cargo or passenger area. In road vehicles, a crew cab is a pickup with an extended cab to seat more passengers.

Other uses are specialized. In computing, CAB refers to the Windows Cabinet file format, a compressed archive used to package software components. In furniture and carpentry, cab can be an informal shortening of cabinet, though this usage is less formal.