cabful

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   as many people or as much material as a cab can hold

   A cabful of theatergoers arrived at the station just before the last train.

Formed from cab + the noun-forming suffix -ful, meaning 'as much or as many as fills.' Cab is a shortening of cabriolet, the light horse-drawn carriage from which the hired-cab sense developed. The historical dictionary record dates cabful to at least 1856; it follows the same measure-noun pattern as handful and carful.

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