taxi

Pluraltaxis, taxies

Formstaxis, taxiing, taxied

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A vehicle hired for single journeys by members of the public, usually fitted with a meter that calculates the fare.

   She hailed a taxi on the corner and asked the driver to hurry.

   Late at night, taxis are easier to find near the hotel district.

   Similarcab

   Note

   A clipping of taximeter cab, so the vehicle is named for its meter, not the car. The chain runs through French taximètre and German Taxameter to Medieval Latin taxa, 'tax, charge', which is the same root as tax and task. On its own the word works as a shout to hail one, as in Delos W. Lovelace's King Kong (1932): "Taxi," he called. The plural is taxis or taxies.

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To make a journey by taxi rather than by another means of transport.

   They taxied to the airport rather than drive themselves.

   On rainy days I taxi to work to stay dry.

   Note

   A verb made straight from the hired car, usually followed by a destination with 'to'. Delos W. Lovelace's King Kong (1932) has a man who 'had taxied to the waterfront'. It shares every form with the aircraft verb, including taxied and taxiing, so only context tells a passenger from a pilot.

3. 3
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To move an aircraft along the ground under its own power, as before takeoff or after landing.

   The crew will taxi the aircraft to the de-icing pad before departure.

   After landing, the plane taxied off the runway and toward the terminal.

   Note

   The spelling is the trap. The present participle keeps both vowels, taxiing, with taxying as a rare alternative. The third person is taxis, with taxies rare, and the past is taxied. The verb works both ways: a pilot taxis the aircraft, or the plane simply taxis down the runway on its own. It is also the verb behind the ground-movement phase.

4. 4
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The movement of an aircraft across an airport surface under its own power, or the phase of operation that consists of that ground movement.

   The taxi to the active runway was delayed by congestion on the apron.

   Heavy ground traffic can extend the taxi well beyond the scheduled time.

   Note

   Aviation counts it as one of the named phases of a flight, alongside takeoff and landing. As a phase it usually goes without an article: during taxi, seat belts fastened during taxi. A particular trip across the airfield is countable: the taxi to the runway. It is the noun partner of the aircraft verb, and the two share the same technical setting.

5. 5
   noundialectalIranSouth Africacountable

   A vehicle shared by several passengers traveling roughly the same way, with each rider paying a portion of the fare.

   Each morning she catches a taxi that fills with commuters before leaving the stand.

   Fares on the taxi are cheaper because the cost is split among the riders.

   Similarminibus, jitney

   Note

   In South Africa and Iran, the bare word covers what elsewhere needs the fuller name shared taxi. This matters to a visitor. Asking for a taxi there may get you a seat among other riders who each pay their own fare, not a privately hired car. When the difference is important, 'shared taxi' says it without ambiguity.

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