Hackney
Hackney (-ny) , noun
[Old English hakeney, hakenay; compare French haguenée a pacing horse, an ambling nag, Old French also haquenée, Sp. hacanea, OSp. facanea, Dutch hakkenei, also Old French haque horse, Sp. haca, OSp. faca; perh. akin to English hack to cut, and nag, and orig. meaning, a jolting horse. Compare Hack a horse, Nag.]
1.
A horse for riding or driving; a nag; a pony. — Chaucer
2.
A horse or pony kept for hire.
3.
A carriage kept for hire; a hack; a hackney coach.
4.
A hired drudge; a hireling; a prostitute.
Hackney , adjective
Let out for hire; devoted to common use; hence, much used; trite; mean; as, hackney coaches; hackney authors.
Hackney tongue.
Hackney (-nid) , transitive verb
1.
To devote to common or frequent use, as a horse or carriage; to wear out in common service; to make trite or commonplace; as, a hackneyed metaphor or quotation.
Had I so lavish of my presence been,
So common-hackneyed in the eyes of men.
2.
To carry in a hackney coach. — Cowper