hub

/həb/

/həb/

Other forms: hubs

A hub is the center of a wheel or the center of some kind of activity. If all of an airline's flights go through Atlanta, you'd say the southern city is their hub.

You know how a lot of activity is called a hubbub? That makes sense when you consider that a hub, in a wheel or otherwise, is the center of whatever's going on. Southern California has long been a hub of the computer industry, and Detroit used to be the hub of the auto industry. Busy airports like the ones in Chicago and Atlanta are called hubs. Any hub is important, because it's right in the middle of all the action.

Definitions of hub

1. noun

   the central part of a car wheel (or fan or propeller etc) through which the shaft or axle passes
   type of:

   part, portion

   something less than the whole of a human artifact
2. noun

   a center of activity or interest or commerce or transportation; a focal point around which events revolve
   “the playground is the hub of parental supervision”

   “the airport is the economic hub of the area”

   types:

   civic center, down town, municipal center

   the center of a city

   type of:

   center, centre, eye, heart, middle

   an area that is approximately central within some larger region