# hackney

/ˈhækni/ (US) · /hˈækni/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/hackney
Updated: 2026-08-27

## Senses

### 1. a carriage for hire

noun · CEFR C2 · British English · Formal · Technical

a horse-drawn carriage or a taxi that you can pay to use.

For teachers: a carriage or automobile kept for hire; the term survives in modern legal contexts as 'hackney carriage' to refer to licensed taxis.

- The city still issues licenses for every hackney carriage operating in the center.
- The local authority maintains strict regulations regarding the age and condition of any vehicle seeking a hackney carriage license.

Usage: Often used in the compound 'hackney carriage' in UK licensing law.

### 2. a horse for riding

noun · CEFR C2 · Archaic · Literary

a horse that is used for ordinary riding or for pulling a carriage.

For teachers: an ordinary horse used for riding or driving, as opposed to a specialized war horse or farm horse.

- He rode a tired hackney along the dusty road to the next village.
- The traveler exchanged his exhausted hackney for a fresh mount at the post house before continuing his journey across the moors.

### 3. available for hire

adjective · CEFR C2 · Archaic

describes something, like a carriage, that is offered for rent.

For teachers: let out for hire; devoted to common use for a fee.

- They waited at the corner for a hackney coach to take them home.
- The streets were crowded with hackney coaches and private broughams, creating a chaotic scene outside the theater.

### 4. to make boring

verb · CEFR C2 · Archaic · Literary

to use something so often that it becomes uninteresting or unoriginal.

For teachers: to make trite, vulgar, or commonplace by frequent use; to overexpose a concept or phrase.

- The plot of the movie was hackneyed and predictable from the start.
- The author attempted to revitalize a theme that had been hackneyed by generations of lesser writers.

Teaching tip: Modern speakers almost exclusively use the past participle 'hackneyed' as an adjective rather than using 'hackney' as a verb.

## Examples

- The city still issues licenses for every hackney carriage on the road.
- While the term sounds old-fashioned, a hackney carriage is simply the official name for a London black cab.
- The transition from horse-drawn hackney coaches to motorized taxicabs marked a significant shift in urban transport, though the traditional licensing terminology remains largely unchanged in municipal law.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.