Also called hackney coach. a carriage or coach for hire; cab.
a trotting horse used for drawing a light carriage or the like.
a horse used for ordinary riding or driving.
(initial capital letter) one of an English breed of horses having a high-stepping gait.
to make trite, common, or stale by frequent use.
to use as a hackney.
a compact breed of harness horse with a high-stepping trot
a coach or carriage that is for hire
( as modifier )
a hackney carriage
a popular term for hack 2
1300–50; Middle English hakeney, special use of placename Hackney, Middlesex, England
Use the word hackney to mean either an old-fashioned type of horse-drawn carriage, the type of horse used to pull such carriages, or a taxi cab. If you enjoy carriage rides through the park, you'll want to hire a hackney. The original Hackney is a British place name, an area that's now part of South London but was once rural land covered with horse pastures. The small horse known as a hackney was named after the location, and so were the carriages-for-hire such horses pulled. As automobiles replaced horses, motorized taxis borrowed the name hackney, or sometimes hackney carriage, both of which are still used today in the U.K.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As we were shown around an empty Baden Powell school, Jason Marantz, director of education and inclusion at Hackney Council, described feeling a "mixture of emotions" about closing schools.
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026
From the base of Middlesbrough's midfield, Hayden Hackney demonstrated a range of passing, athleticism, and tendency to make a difference in key moments that stood out in the division.
From BBC • May 28, 2026
David Hackney, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who was not involved in the study or Thurman’s case, told Salon he was not surprised to see this data published and to hear these stories.
From Salon • May 26, 2026
Meanwhile, the Greens won control of Waltham Forest, Lewisham and Hackney in London, where Labour had previously been dominant, as well as winning the party's first-ever elected mayors in Hackney and Lewisham.
From BBC • May 9, 2026
Three mothers with seven children, all from the Hackney area of London, had been billeted on the Tallis family.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
