Hail a cab meaning in English

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Definition

to hail a cab, a taxi: to stop a taxi in the street idiom
to hail someone to call someone in order to attract their attention

Examples

  • "Listen, hail a cab back to the office and I'll come down and pay for it."
Exercise 1
Choose the TRUE statements from the list below

Choose the TRUE statements from the list below
This statement is false. Icarus tells Kevin to "hail a cab", which means to signal or wave down a taxi. Icarus is clearly asking Kevin to find a taxi for himself, he never offers to get a taxi for Kevin.
This statement is true. Icarus asks Kevin "to hail a cab", which Icarus offers to pay for. Icarus tells Kevin, "I'll come down and pay for it", meaning that he will cover the cost of Kevin's taxi ride.
This is a true statement. Icarus tells Kevin that if he leaves right away, he could be back in time for the budget meeting. We can assume that Icarus hopes that Kevin will participate in the budget meeting.
Kevin calls Icarus a "lifesaver" which literally means that Icarus has saved a life. However, Kevin is using the term idiomatically to express his gratitude to Icarus for helping him. Kevin's life is not actually in danger.
This is a true statement. Icarus yells "Don't panic!" to Kevin. He is "urging", or encouraging Kevin to remain calm.
Exercise 2
"And I think Horatio is very lucky that I don't call immigration to haul his ass back to the jungle."

This sentence uses the term haul idiomatically.

Which of the following sentences use the term "haul" correctly?

There may be more than one correct answer! Choose all that apply!

"And I think Horatio is very lucky that I don't call immigration to haul his ass back to the jungle."

This sentence uses the term haul idiomatically.

Which of the following sentences use the term "haul" correctly?

There may be more than one correct answer! Choose all that apply!
This sentence is incorrect. The verbs "to haul" and "to hail" should not be confused. To hail (a cab) means to call for a taxi, often in the street.
This sentence is incorrect. Although the verb "to haul" is often synonymous with the verb "to pull", you can only "pull a muscle" after an abnormal strain, and "haul" is not used here. The best way of expressing that one has hurt a muscle would be "I pulled a muscle" or "I strained a muscle".
"Haul" is used correctly in this sentence. Here, it is used as a noun, within the expression "a long haul" which describes a great distance to be traveled. "A long haul" is an expression meaning that one point is far away from another.
"Haul" is used correctly in this sentence, in a similar way to the way Bruno uses it in the conversation. The primary meaning of the verb "to haul" is similar to the verb "to pull", however "to haul" has a stronger sense and means to pull with effort. This verb is often used to describe activities that require extreme physical force (hauling bricks, hauling freight, hauling cargo). Note that people can haul objects, but trains and cars can as well. The expression Bruno uses, "to haul Horatio's ass (back to the jungle)" is a colorful (and vulgar) expression which indicates that Bruno could easily have immigration come and remove Horatio by force, and send him back to the Amazon. The expression evokes an image of someone coming and physically taking Horatio back to the jungle.

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