Follow That Cab! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Small carriage with a hood

'Cabriolet' has two meanings. The modern usage denotes a car with a foldable roof for those country drives on sunny days. Your great-grandfather might have had a cabriolet in the form of a two-wheeled carriage. These were capable of being drawn by a single horse but had a rocky motion which gave the carriage its name. A 'cabriolet' derives its name from 'cabriole' which meant a 'goat's leap' or to 'caper' in 18th century French. Mustn't have been a pleasant trip with all that rocking!

If you want to trace the word 'cabriolet,' you can go all the way back to the Latin word 'caper' meaning a billy-goat, or a male goat. The word has been transformed over a couple of millennia from the Latin, to Old Italian, to French, and finally to English.

Answer: Cabaletta

Cabaletta was an operatic form favoured by 19th century composers such as Rossini and Bellini. It refers to the concluding section of an operatic aria or duet. A cabaletta is distinguished by a rapid tempo, repetition of the first vocal statement with ornamentation, and a coda. Cabaletta can be heard several times in a Rossini opera. All the major characters in a Rossini work have a cabaletta to perform, some of them having two, or even three. The cabaletta may be sung by the lead, by a duet, or the entire ensemble.

The word 'cabaletta' is derived from a very early word in the Proto-Indo-European language, via Latin, Italian, and then English. The original word 'kom' meant near, or together, and this is reflected in the coming together of separate pieces of music.

A cabanossi is a sausage similar to a mild salami, and it could be served with some cabbage, a vegetable used to make sauerkraut and coleslaw. A cabal is a group of people working together in secret for nefarious purposes.

Answer: Caboshed

'Caboshed' is derived from the French word 'caboché' meaning exactly the same thing as it does in English i.e. portrayed as though seen from directly in front of an object, with only the head visible. To describe such an animal or animals on a crest, you could say "Two ram heads caboshed".

A cabochon is a type of cutting and polishing used on precious and semi-precious gemstones. A cablegram was a type of telegram, while a Caboclo is a native of Brazil with mixed white and native Indian ancestry.

Answer: Cabinetmaker

A cabinetmaker is a highly skilled artisan capable of making exquisite pieces of furniture such as tables, chairs, bookcases etc. The word 'cabinet' comes to English from the French.

'Cabinet' can also refer to a head of state's senior advisors or ministers. In the late 1500s in England, the monarch would meet his/her trusted advisors in a cabinet room, hence the senior staff becoming members of the cabinet. In this sense, the word 'cabinet' come from the Italian 'cabinetto' which designated a small, secure, private room in which one could conduct important business without undue interference.

Answer: Cable

A jumper (sweater) knitted with a cable pattern can be quite simple with just a few simple cables incorporated into the design, or it can be an all-over intricate pattern which takes great skill and perseverance to knit. The jumpers which are covered with a pattern are called Aran jumpers or knits.

There are many types of cable patterns, many having been handed down through families, and often with a long history and symbolism attached to them. Originating in the Aran Isles of Ireland where fishing was a primary income earner, it is said that each fisherman's pattern was unique and a drowned man could be identified by his jumper.

These jumpers are most commonly knitted in white or a pale colour as it emphasises the pattern. When knitted in a dark colour, the effect is lost for the most part.

Answer: Caboose

The word 'caboose' originally came from the Dutch word 'kabuis' or 'kombuis'. The caboose is often where the train's crew hang out when not required for work. One very famous caboose is 'The Little Red Caboose', a caboose which saves the day in a children's book written by Marian Potter. Our poor little red caboose feels a dire lack of respect and wants to be admired as much as the engine at the front of the train.

The caboose manages to stop the whole train skidding down a mountain when the engine couldn't make it up the hill, saving the train and all aboard.

In days long gone by, 'caboose' was also the term for a kitchen on a ship. It still has that meaning, but the kitchen is much more commonly referred to as the galley.

Answer: Cabana

The word 'cabana' came to English less than 200 years ago from the Spanish word 'cabaña'. The Spanish word has much the same meaning as it does in English i.e. a cabin or hut. The Spanish word, unsurprisingly, come from the Latin word 'capanna' which carried the same meaning.

Answer: Rounded, polished smooth like a bead

A cabochon stone has been polished into a rounded shape so the observer can appreciate the colours and depth of the stone. In English, 'cabochon' is a fairly new word, having only been used since the 1700s. The term 'cabochon' came into English from the French word 'caboche', but its origins go back to well before the days of ancient Rome. 'Cabochon' is suggested by some to have come from the word 'kaput' (meaning head) from the Proto-Indo-European language spoken over 5,000 years ago.

Answer: On your furniture - it's a finely turned leg

A cabriole leg was often found on pieces of furniture made in the Queen Anne period. Thomas Chippendale, legendary furniture maker of England, often used cabriole legs on his pieces. The leg bows out at the top before curving back inwards. The 18th century found the first recorded usage of 'cabriole' in England.

The word 'cabriole' in this sense comes from a dancing term. A cabriole is jump in which the dancer first throws a leg into the air. The other leg comes up to connect with it before the second foot again lands on the floor. 'Cabriole' in a dance sense literally means a 'light leap' in French, the French having borrowed the word from the Italian 'capriolare' which meant to 'leap in the air'. It has the same root as the word 'cabriolet', both coming from the notion of a goat capering in the air.

Answer: Cabaret

Liza Minnelli, the daughter of Oscar winner Vincent Minnelli and Oscar-nominated Judy Garland, won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in 1972's 'Cabaret'. The use of 'cabaret' to denote entertainment, or dining while a show is on stage, only dates back to the early 20th century. Originally in the old French, 'cabaret' meant a wooden building, perhaps an inn.

Cabildo refers to a people involved in local government in a Spanish speaking region, or indeed, the town hall itself. A caber is a large wooden pole thrown by Scotsmen when they're playing games, and a cabezon is a North American fish.