What does cabmen mean?
Cabmen is the plural form of cabman and means drivers of hired taxis or cabs. The expression is now chiefly historical or nostalgic because it evokes the period when horse-drawn cabs and early motor taxis served busy city streets, especially in London, whereas “taxi driver” is the normal modern term. In older writing, cabmen could refer collectively to members of the trade, as in a report about London cabmen, while a single driver was a cabman. The plural also appeared in forms such as cabmen’s shelter, the name of the small roadside shelters provided for drivers waiting at cab ranks. Although the vocabulary survives in period literature, local history, and discussions of the traditional London cab trade, cabmen sounds dated in ordinary contemporary English. Knowing the word therefore offers a glimpse into urban transport culture and labor history, especially the world of ranks, fares, shelters, and the transition from horse-drawn vehicles to motorized taxis.
noun (plural)The plural of cabman; drivers of hired taxis or cabs, including the horse-drawn cabs and early motor taxis common in earlier urban transport systems.
- Drivers of hired taxis or cabs, especially in the historical context of horse-drawn cabs and early motor taxis.
"The novel vividly portrays the lives of London cabmen at the beginning of the twentieth century."
"A group of cabmen gathered outside the railway station waiting for the evening fares."
"Horse cabmen were gradually displaced by motor taxis in the early twentieth century."
Cabmen is the regular plural of cabman; cabman is the unmarked singular form.
"The two cabmen split the fare between them."
London's surviving “cabmen's shelters” preserve the vocabulary of a trade once dominated by horse-drawn cabs.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does cabmen come from?
The compound developed in the nineteenth-century world of hired cabs. Cab is a shortened form of cabriolet, a term borrowed through French from an Italian word ultimately derived from Latin capra, while man is an ordinary English noun meaning an adult male. The shorter cabriolet, cabriole, and capriole are related in their ultimate Latin ancestry.
Related word forms
How cabmen is actually used
The term sounds historical, nostalgic, or period-specific in modern English. It is especially associated with the London cab trade and may refer collectively to cab drivers rather than to an individual.
Easily confused with cabmen
Cabman is the singular form for one driver of a cab, whereas cabmen refers to two or more drivers.