Meanings
plural cabs off the rank
- AustraliaSomething fitting or occurring at a specified point in a series.
Once again I left Jason's office in high spirits. First cab off the rank was to pay off the LAND card and I intended to do it straightaway, like ripping off a band-aid.
2010, Antonia Magee, Living Thin, page 1281 more example
The Boys Next Door […] were as likely a prospect as the Australian new wave was going to throw up, could have been and in many ways were the next cab off the rank after the Saints and Radio Birdman, Australia's twin prophets of punk.
2009, Karen Welberry, Tanya Dalziell, Cultural Seeds: Essays on the Work of Nick Cave, page 34
Origin
Figurative reference to cabs at a taxi rank, which wait in a line for passengers, the frontmost cab departing first.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
cab off the rank. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cab%20off%20the%20rank
“cab off the rank.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cab%20off%20the%20rank. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cab off the rank,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cab%20off%20the%20rank.
Source: cab off the rank on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.