noun
mab
noun
1
(dated, dialectal) A sloppy or slovenly woman.
"The old rhyme mocked her as a mab who never tidied her cottage."
2
(dated) A hackney cab.
"He hailed a mab outside the theatre to get home before midnight."
How to Use Mab
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA now-rare word for a messy woman or, separately, an old-fashioned word for a hired cab — you will mostly meet it in older English literature.
Common mistake
Don't confuse this obsolete common noun with Queen Mab, the fairy-queen character in folklore and Shakespeare, or with the given name Mab.
Word Forms
mabbed past tense, mabs plural, mabs singular
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The old rhyme mocked her as a _____ who never tidied her cottage.
Etymology
Origin uncertain; the untidy-woman sense may be linked to the female name Mab, as in Queen Mab, the fairy queen of English folklore mentioned in Romeo and Juliet.