Dictionary

hackney en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio
• /ˈhækni/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English hakeney, from the placename Hackney (formerly a town; now a borough of London), used for grazing horses before sale, from Old English *Hacan īeġ (“Haca's Island”, literally “Hook's Island”). The Old French haquenée (“ambling mare for ladies”), Latinized in England to hakeneius, is originally from the English.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Offered for hire.
   • hackney coaches
2. (figuratively, not-comparable) Much used; trite; mean.
   • hackney authors
   • his accumulative and hackney tongue a. 1685, Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon, The Ghost of the old House of Commons to the new one appointed to meet at Oxford.:

Translations (5)

bg наемен (Offered for hire) · pt trivial (Much used) · pt batido (Much used) · pt corriqueiro (Much used) · pt banal (Much used)

hackney en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio
• /ˈhækni/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English hakeney, from the placename Hackney (formerly a town; now a borough of London), used for grazing horses before sale, from Old English *Hacan īeġ (“Haca's Island”, literally “Hook's Island”). The Old French haquenée (“ambling mare for ladies”), Latinized in England to hakeneius, is originally from the English.

Meanings

1. (archaic, countable, uncountable) An ordinary horse.
2. (countable, uncountable) A carriage for hire or a cab.
   • "Mamma would die if she knew. The boy," replied Georgiana, "walked with us to Oxford Street, and we took a hackney-coach. Will Mrs. Gooch ever forgive us for getting out of it at her door?" 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 186:
3. (countable, uncountable) A horse used to ride or drive.
4. (countable, uncountable) A breed of English horse.
5. (archaic, countable, uncountable) A hired drudge; a hireling; a prostitute.
6. (archaic, uncountable) Inferior writing; literary hackwork.
   • Not that the existence of Grub street is to be doubted: it was, indeed, a grim actuality, and many a garreter realised by experience How unhappy's the fate To live by one's pate And to be forced to write hackney for bread. quoted in 1972, Pat Rogers, Grub Street: Studies in a Subculture (page 384)

Forms

Deriveds

hackneyman · hackney carriage · hackney writer · hackney cab · hack · hackneyed · hackneyer

Translations (12)

io fiakro (carriage for hire or a cab) · fi vosu (hired drudge; hireling; prostitute) · bg наемен кон (horse used to ride or drive) · fi hackney (breed of English horse) · fi ratsu (horse used to ride or drive) · fr hackney (breed of English horse) · fi hevonen (ordinary horse) · bg наемна кола (carriage for hire or a cab) · fi ajohevonen (horse used to ride or drive) · fr haquenée (horse used to ride or drive) · fi ratsuhevonen (horse used to ride or drive) · fi vossikka (carriage for hire or a cab)

wikidata: Q3273735

hackney en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio
• /ˈhækni/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English hakeney, from the placename Hackney (formerly a town; now a borough of London), used for grazing horses before sale, from Old English *Hacan īeġ (“Haca's Island”, literally “Hook's Island”). The Old French haquenée (“ambling mare for ladies”), Latinized in England to hakeneius, is originally from the English.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To make uninteresting or trite by frequent use.
2. (transitive) To use as a hackney.
3. (transitive) To carry in a hackney coach.
   • […] To her, who, frugal only that her thrift / May feed excesses she can ill afford, / Is hackneyed home unlackeyed; […] 1785, William Cowper, The Task:

Forms

Translations (1)

ja 使い古す (to make uninteresting or trite by frequent use)