taxi

a car and driver that you pay to take you somewhere SYN cab:
They sent me home in a taxi.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ take/get a taxi We took a taxi to the hotel.
▪ go/come/arrive by taxi I went back home by taxi.
▪ hail a taxi (=wave or call to a taxi to stop for you to get in) I rushed outside and hailed a taxi.
▪ phone for/call a taxi (=telephone for a taxi to come) Can you phone for a taxi and I'll get our coats.
▪ call somebody a taxi (=telephone for a taxi to come for someone else) Call me a taxi, would you?
▪ get into/out of a taxi He got into a taxi outside the station.
■ taxi + NOUN
▪ a taxi ride The centre of town is a five minute taxi ride away.
▪ a taxi fare She couldn't afford the £18 taxi fare.
▪ a taxi driver He paid the taxi driver and got out.
▪ a taxi service We operate a taxi service to and from the airport.
▪ a taxi rank British English, a taxi stand American English (=a place where taxis wait for customers) There's a taxi rank just outside the hotel.
■ COMMON ERRORS
► Do not say 'get on a taxi'. Say get in a taxi.
II. taxi² BrE AmE verb (past tense and past participle taxied, present participle taxiing, third person singular taxis or taxies) [intransitive]
if a plane taxis, it moves along the ground before taking off or after landing:
The plane taxied to a halt.

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

taxi

taxi [taxi taxis] noun, verb [ˈtæksi] [ˈtæksi]

noun

1. (also cab, taxi·cab) a car with a driver that you pay to take you somewhere. Taxis usually have meters which show how much money you have to pay
• a taxi driver/ride
• We'd better take a taxi.
• I came home by taxi.

• to order/hail/call a taxi

2. in some places in Africa, a small bus with a driver that you pay to take you somewhere. Taxis usually have fixed routes and stop wherever passengers need to get on or off.
see also dala-dala, matatu
Word Origin:
early 20th cent.: abbreviation of taxi-cab or taximeter cab, from French taximètre, from taxe ‘tariff’, from the verb taxer ‘to tax’ + -mètre ‘(instrument) measuring’.
Example Bank:
• I prefer to travel by taxi.
• I took a taxi back home.
• I'll get my secretary to call you a taxi.
• We caught a taxi to the airport.
• We had some difficulty finding a taxi.
• We hired a taxi for the day and went all over the island.
• a five-minute trip by taxi

• a water taxi heading for Venice

verb (taxi·ing, tax·ied, tax·ied) intransitive (of a plane)

to move slowly along the ground before taking off or after landing

Word Origin:

early 20th cent.: abbreviation of taxi-cab or taximeter cab, from French taximètre, from taxe ‘tariff’, from the verb taxer ‘to tax’ + -mètre ‘(instrument) measuring’

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

taxi

taxi (MOVE) /ˈtæk.si/
verb [I] taxiing, taxied, taxied
(of an aircraft) to move slowly on the ground

taxi (VEHICLE) /ˈtæk.si/
noun [C] (ALSO taxicab or cab)
a car with a driver whom you pay to take you somewhere:
I took a taxi from the station to the hotel.
a taxi driver

Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

taxi

/tæksi/
(taxis, taxiing, taxied)

1.
A taxi is a car driven by a person whose job is to take people where they want to go in return for money.
The taxi drew up in front of the Riviera Club...
He set off by taxi.
= cab
N-COUNT: also by N

2.
When an aircraft taxis along the ground, or when a pilot taxis a plane somewhere, it moves slowly along the ground.
She gave permission to the plane to taxi into position and hold for takeoff...
The pilot taxied the plane to the end of the runway.
VERB: V prep/adv, V n prep/adv, also V, V n