hackney

See also: Hackney

English

WOTD – 3 October 2026
A hackney (noun sense 1) taking part in a harness competition.
An illustration of a hackney (noun sense 2.2), or hackney carriage, from about 1800.

Etymology

    The noun is derived from Middle English hakeney (“small horse, often hired out”),[1] probably from Hakeneia, Hakeneye (“Hackney, formerly a village in Middlesex and now a borough of London, England, in the United Kingdom”) (as the surrounding meadows were used for grazing horses before sale; whence Old French haquenée (“ambling mare for ladies”), Latinized in England to hakeneius),[2] from Old English *Hacan īeġ (“Haca’s Island”, literally “Hook’s Island”).

    The adjective[2] and verb[3] are derived from the noun.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    hackney (countable and uncountable, plural hackneys)

    2. (countable, archaic or historical) A horse suitable for riding; specifically, a strong medium-sized horse with a high-stepping trot, often used in harness competitions; also, such horses collectively as a breed.
    3. (by extension, countable, historical)
      1. A horse which is hired out.
        Synonym: hireling
        • 1546, John Heywood, chapter XI, in Julian Sharman, editor, The Proverbs of John Heywood. […], London: George Bell and Sons, […], published 1874, →OCLC, part I, page 71:
          But hackney men say at mangie hacknies hyre, / A scald horse is good enough for a scabd squyre.
          The spelling has been modernized.
        • 1715, [Daniel Defoe], “The Fourth Dialogue”, in The Family Instructor. […], London: Sold by Eman[nuel] Matthews, […]; and Jo. Button, […], →OCLC, part I (Being the Family Inverted: Or the Child Chatechising the Father. […]), page 88:
          Siſ[ter]. Then you vvill go vvithout a Coach too; for I aſſure you, as I ſaid before, you vvon't get Thomas to go. / Bro[ther]. Then I'll take a Hackney, and go to the Mall.
      3. In full hackney carriage, hackney coach: a horse-drawn carriage which is hired out.
        • 1664 April 28 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “April 18th, 1664”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume IV, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1894, →OCLC, page 113:
          […] I saw the King [Charles II of England] with his periwigg, but not altered at all; and my Lady Castlemayne [Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland] in a coach by herself, in yellow satin and a pinner on; and many brave persons. And myself being in a hackney and full of people, was ashamed to be seen by the world, many of them knowing me.
        • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter V, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 84:
          Oh! but their removing from the chaise into a hackney coach is such a presumption! And, besides, no traces of them were to be found on the Barnet road.
        • 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:
          "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?"
        • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “In Which Some More First Appearances Are Made on the Stage of These Adventures”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 24:
          Anywhere in the immediate vicinity there might be seen […] little timber midshipmen in obsolete naval uniforms, eternally employed outside the shopdoors of nautical instrument-makers in taking observations of the hackney coaches.
    4. (figurative)
      1. (uncountable, archaic) Writing which is dull or follows a predictable formula, produced so the writer can be paid rather than as a creative work; literary hackwork.
      2. (countable, obsolete)
        1. A person who does menial work; a drudge, a hireling, a lackey.
          • 1546, John Heywood, chapter XI, in Julian Sharman, editor, The Proverbs of John Heywood. […], London: George Bell and Sons, […], published 1874, →OCLC, part I, page 73:
            I have been common Jacke to all that whole flocke; / When ought was to doe I was common hackney.
            The spelling has been modernized.
          • 1668 February 21 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 11th, 1667–1668”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume VII, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1896, →OCLC, page 314:
            At the office all the morning, where comes a damned summons to attend the Committee of Miscarriages to-day, which makes me mad, that I should by my place become the hackney of this Office, in perpetual trouble and vexation, that need it least.
          • 1785, William Cowper, “Tirocinium: Or, A Review of Schools”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson;  […], →OCLC, page 325:
            And is he vvell content, his ſon ſhould find / No nouriſhment to feed his grovving mind / But conjugated verbs, and nouns declined? / For ſuch is all the mental food purvey'd / By public hacknies in the ſchooling trade, […]
        2. A person or thing that is exploited.
          • a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 28, lines 8–11:
            Be God, ye be a praty pode, / And I loue you an hole cart lode. / Strawe, Jamys foder, ye play the fode, / I am no hakney for your rode; […]
          • 1599 (first performance), Thomas Dekker, The Shomakers Holiday. Or The Gentle Craft. […], London: […] Valentine Sims […], published 1600, →OCLC, signature B3, verso:
            [T]ake him braue men, Hector of Troy was a hackney to him, Hercules and Termagant ſcoundrelles, Prince Arthurs Round table, by the Lord of Ludgate, nere fed ſuch a tall, ſuch a dapper ſwordman: […]
          • 1738, [Alexander] Pope, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty Eight. Dialogue II, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 10:
            VVhat? ſhall each ſpur-gall'd Hackney of the Day, VVhen Pax——n gives him double Pots and Pay, / Or each nevv-penſion'd Sycophant pretend / To break my VVindovvs, if I treat a Friend; / Then vviſely plead, to me they meant no hurt, / But 'tvvas my Gueſt at vvhom they threvv the dirt?
        3. (derogatory) A prostitute.
          Synonyms: see Thesaurus:prostitute
          • 1593, Tho[mas] Nashe, Christs Teares Over Ierusalem. […], London: […] Iames Roberts, and are to be solde by Andrewe Wise, […], →OCLC, folio 80, recto:
            VVaters and receipts haue they to enable a man to the acte after hee is ſpent, dormatiue potions to procure deadly ſleepe, that vvhen the hackney he hath payde for lyes by hym, hee may haue no povver to deale vvyth her, but ſhee may ſteale from hym, vvhiles he is in his deepe memento, and make her gayne of three or foure other.
          • 1677 (indicated as 1678), [Samuel Butler], “The Ladies Answer to the Knight”, in Hudibras. The Third and Last Part. […], London: […] Simon Miller, […], →OCLC, page 524:
            And though ſome fits of ſmall conteſt / Sometimes fall out among the Beſt, / That is no more, then every Lover / Does, from his Hackney Lady ſuffer.
          • 1679, Gilbert Burnet, “An Appendix Concerning Some of the Errors & Falshoods in Sander’s Book of the English Schism”, in The History of the Reformation of the Church of England. The First Part, […], London: […] T[homas] H[odgkin] for Richard Chiswell, […], →OCLC, page 278:
            As for the other pieces of this Story, […] that at the fifteenth year of Ann [Anne Boleyn]'s Age, ſhe [Mary Boleyn] had proſtituted her ſelf both to her Fathers Butler, and Chaplain; that then ſhe vvas ſent to France, vvhere ſhe vvas at firſt for ſome time concealed, then brought to Court, vvhere ſhe vvas ſo notoriously levvd, that ſhe vvas called an Hackney; […] are ſuch a heap of impudent Lyes, that none but a Fool, as vvell as a Knave, vvould venture on ſuch a recital.

    Derived terms

    Translations

    Adjective

    hackney (not comparable)

    1. Available to be hired; hireable.
      • 1660 December (date written), Anthony Wood, “1659⁄60 and 1660: 12 Car[olus] II: Wood aet[atis] 28”, in Andrew Clark, editor, The Life and Times of Anthony Wood, Antiquary, of Oxford, 1632–1695, Described by Himself […] (Oxford Historical Society series; XIX), volume I (1632–1663), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Horace Hart] for the Oxford Historical Society at the Clarendon Press, published 1891, →OCLC, page 361:
        There were some hackney preachers in the University at this time, who for mon<e>y (40 shillings) would ascend the pulpit at any time for those restored; […]
      • 1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC, page 25:
        VVhat vvoful ſtuff this Madrigal vvou'd be, / In ſome ſtarved Hackny Sonneteer, or me?
      • 1711 August 10 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, July 30, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 130; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 189:
        As the trekschuyt, or hackney-boat, which carries passengers from Leyden to Amsterdam, was putting off, a boy running along the side of the canal desired to be taken in: which the master of the boat refused, because the lad had not quite money enough to pay the usual fare.
        The spelling has been modernized.
    2. (archaic) Synonym of hackneyed (“of speech or writing, a phrase, etc.: uninteresting and unoriginal from being repeated too often”).
      Synonyms: clichéd, tired, trite; see also Thesaurus:hackneyed
      hackney authors
      • a. 1686 (date written), Earl of Roscomon [i.e., Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon], “The Ghost of the Old House of Commons, to the New One, Appointed to Meet at Oxford”, in Poems by the Earl of Roscomon. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1717, →OCLC, page 128:
        I brought him to the Bar, vvhere once he ſtood / Stain'd vvith the (yet unexpiated) Blood / Of the brave Strafford, vvhen three Kingdoms rung / VVith his Accumulative Hackney-Tongue; […]
      • 1741, William Warburton, “An Appendix: Containing, Some Remarks on a Book, Intituled, Future Rewards and Punishments Believed by the Ancients, Particularly the Philosophers; wherein Some Objections of the Reverend Mr. Warburton, in His Divine Legation of Moses, are Considered. […] The Second Edition.”, in The Divine Legation of Moses […], volume II, part II, London: […] Fletcher Gyles, […], →OCLC, section VIII, page 37:
        VVas there ever any thing ſo ſhameleſs? Yet this is one of his hackney Fallacies that runs on all his Errands.
    3. (obsolete) Commonplace, usual; also, frequent.

    Translations

    Verb

    hackney (third-person singular simple present hackneys, present participle hackneying, simple past and past participle hackneyed)

    1. (transitive)
      1. (chiefly passive voice, figurative) To make (something) uninteresting and unoriginal through frequent repetition; to make (something) trite.
        • c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], signature [F4], verso:
          Had I ſo lauiſh of my preſence beene, / So common hackneid in the eyes of men, / So ſtale and cheape to vulgar companie, / Opinion that did helpe me to the crovvne, / Had ſtill kept loyall to poſſeſſion, / And left me in reputeleſſe baniſhment, / A fellovv of no marke nor likelihoode.
        • 1740, Colley Cibber, chapter IV, in An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, […], London: […] John Watts for the author, →OCLC, page 56:
          But vvhen four Houſes [i.e., playhouses] are at once (as very lately they vvere) all permitted to act the ſame Pieces, let three of them perform never ſo ill, vvhen Plays come to be ſo haraſs'd and hackney'd out to the common People (half of vvhich too, perhaps vvould as lieve ſee them at one Houſe as another) the beſt Actors vvill ſoon feel that the Tovvn has enough of them.
      2. (obsolete)
        2. To use (a horse) for ordinary riding.
        3. (passive voice, rare) To transport (someone) on an ordinary riding horse.
        4. (passive voice, rare) To transport (someone) in a hackney carriage; also (followed by the dummy pronoun it), to ride in or on a hackney carriage.
        5. (figurative)
          1. To cause (someone, or their mind, etc.) to be less refined or sensitive; to blunt, to coarsen.
          2. To give or offer (something) for money; also (also reflexive), to hire (oneself, or something) out for money.
          3. To prostitute (someone).
          4. (chiefly passive voice) To hurry or rush (someone or something).
          5. (chiefly passive voice) To treat or use (a person) as a menial worker.
          6. (chiefly passive voice, derogatory) Followed by in: of a person: to be made experienced or used to (something); to become accustomed or habituated.
            • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “Cadwaller Acts the Part of a Comforter to His Friend; and is in His Turn Consoled by Peregrine, who Begins to Find Himself a Most Egregious Dupe”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume IV, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 72:
              Hackneyed as he vvas in the vvays of life, and ſteeled vvith his boaſted ſtoicism, this epiſtle threvv him into ſuch an agony of vexation, that a double propotion of ſovvering vvas viſible in his aſpect, […]
            • 1801, Maria Edgeworth, “The The Good French Governess”, in Moral Tales for Young People, volume V, London: […] [F]or J[oseph] Johnson, […], by H[enry] Bryer, […], →OCLC, pages 11–12:
              As she was not hacknied in the common language of conversation, her ideas were expressed in select and accurate terms, so that her thoughts appeared original, as well as just.
            • 1838, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VII, in Alice or The Mysteries […], volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, book I, page 55:
              [N]or was she without a certain vein of sentiment that persons a little hackneyed in the world, and young ladies a little disappointed that they are not wives instead of maids, easily acquire.
    2. (intransitive, obsolete)
      1. To use a horse for ordinary riding.
      2. (chiefly passive voice) Followed by at: of a person or thing: to be hurried or rushed towards something.
        • 1657, Peter Heylyn, “The Undeceiving of the People in the Point of Tithes. […]”, in Ecclesia Vindicata: Or, The Church of England Justified: […], London: […] J. G. for John Clark, […], →OCLC, page 21:
          For vvhen the poor Clergie-man hackneyeth to receive his Stipend, hovv many put-offs ſhall he finde, ere he ſpeed of his buſineſſe.
      3. (chiefly passive voice) To treat or use a person as a menial worker.

    Conjugation

    Conjugation of hackney
    infinitive (to) hackney
    present tense past tense
    1st-person singular hackney hackneyed
    2nd-person singular hackney, hackneyest† hackneyed, hackneyedst†
    3rd-person singular hackneys, hackneyeth† hackneyed
    plural hackney
    subjunctive hackney hackneyed
    imperative hackney —
    participles hackneying hackneyed

    † Archaic or obsolete.

    Translations

    References

    1. ^ “hakenei(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “hackney, n. and adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2026; “hackney, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
    3. ^ “hackney, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2026.

    Further reading

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