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hackney

1 American  
[hak-nee] / ˈhæk ni /

noun

plural

hackneys

  1. Also called hackney coach.  a carriage or coach for hire; cab.

  2. a trotting horse used for drawing a light carriage or the like.

  3. a horse used for ordinary riding or driving.

  4. (initial capital letter) one of an English breed of horses having a high-stepping gait.

adjective

  1. let out, employed, or done for hire.

verb (used with object)

  1. to make trite, common, or stale by frequent use.

  2. to use as a hackney.

Hackney 2 American  
[hak-nee] / ˈhæk ni /

noun

  1. a borough of Greater London, England.

hackney 1 British  
/ ˈhæknɪ /

noun

  1. a compact breed of harness horse with a high-stepping trot

    1. a coach or carriage that is for hire

    2. ( as modifier )

      a hackney carriage

  3. a popular term for hack 2

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (tr; usually passive) to make commonplace and banal by too frequent use

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Hackney 2 British  
/ ˈhæknɪ /

noun

  1. a borough of NE Greater London: formed in 1965 from the former boroughs of Shoreditch, Stoke Newington, and Hackney; nearby are Hackney Marshes, the largest recreation ground in London. Pop: 208 400 (2003 est). Area: 19 sq km (8 sq miles)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • hackneyism noun

Etymology

Origin of hackney

1300–50; Middle English hakeney, special use of placename Hackney, Middlesex, England

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Black hackney cabs are meant to be the only cars you can hail on the street, but the app technology and smartphones changed that and meant people started "e-hailing" minicabs.

From BBC • Nov. 29, 2023

I live in London, where there is a centuries-old licensed hackney carriage trade.

From New York Times • Apr. 23, 2017

“This hackney driver exhibited exemplary behavior and his honest deed should be recognized,” Police Commissioner William Evans said in a statement.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 5, 2016

After the first official licensing of hackney carriage drivers in 1838 and the formalisation, decades later, of “the Knowledge”, London’s black cab drivers ruled the roads more or less unchallenged.

From The Guardian • Apr. 27, 2016

He had some dreadful troubles trying to borrow horses from people, and finally ended up on a groom’s hackney, can tering after Galahad as fast as it could go.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

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.