hackney coachn.
/ˈhaknɪ kəʊtʃ/, U.S. /ˈhækni ˌkoʊtʃ/ Now historical.
A four-wheeled coach for hire, typically drawn by two horses and with seating for six passengers. Cf. hackney cab n., hackney carriage n.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles (plying) for hire > [noun] > hackney carriage
hackney coach1618
hell-cart1623
hackney1664
hack1692
fiacre1699
hackney carriage1735
dilly1805
street coach1818
jarvey1819
cab1822
hackney cab1832
gurney1884
cabriolet1907
1618 G. Minshull Certaine Characters of Prison & Prisoners sig. B7 He is at the charge of a faire hackney Coach with three most absolute lades to draw him.
1660 S. Pepys Diary 7 Nov. (1970) I. 286 Notwithstanding this was the first day that the King's proclamacion against Hackny Coaches coming into the streets..to be hired, yet I got one tonight to carry me home.
1709 E. Ward Secret Hist. Clubs xxiv. 275 There was not a Hackney-Coach in the whole Town, but what he had Bilk'd two or three times over.
a1779 D. Garrick in R. B. Sheridan Trip to Scarborough (1781) Prol. The streets sometime ago, were pav'd with stones, Which, aided by a hackney coach, half broke your bones.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 1st Ser. I. 224 A regular, ponderous, rickety, London hackney-coach of the old school.
1882 W. Ballantine Some Exper. Barrister's Life ii. 20 A machine called a hackney-coach, licensed to carry six people,..was the principal mode of locomotion.
1930 Manch. Guardian 23 Apr. 9/7 The Whig..who would never enter a hackney coach till the driver had made solemn declaration that he was not a Tory.
1948 ‘C. S. Forester’ in Sat. Evening Post 6 Mar. 85/1 I ordered a hackney coach at the George to be waiting for us.
2009 P. Glennie & N. Thrift Shaping Day iv. 120 Hackney coaches, given the level of their time-dependent fares, clearly catered for the relatively well-to-do.
Compounds
General attributive.
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1624 Steward's Househ. Accts. 20 Mar. (Althorp Househ. Bks.) in J. N. Simpkinson Washingtons (1860) App. (A) 4 p. liii 6 str. of oates to the hackney coach horses and the hackney horses.
1679 C. Blount Just Vindic. of Learning 12 Such small trifles, as..Hackney-Coach Bills, Quack-Doctors Bills, and the like.
1700 Capt. Charles Newy's Case 2 I promise to pay my Brother Charles Newey the Summ of 105 Guineas, or procure him a Hackney Coach Licence.
1715 London Gaz. No. 5344/3 The Hackney Coach Office in Surry street in the Strand.
1776 Middlesex Jrnl. 29 Aug. 1/3 The walkers, the water travellers, and the hackney coach company predominated.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 2nd Ser. 303 Rumours were rife on the hackney-coach-stands, that a buss was building, to run from Lisson-grove to the Bank.
1872 J. C. Jeaffreson Brides & Bridals II. viii. 112 The ‘extraordinary wedding’,—a festival of several days, that enriched hackney-coach-keepers and victuallers.
1945 Marion (Iowa) Sentinel 5 Apr. 14/5 Four English hackney coach horses were received by W. A. Dobson.
1996 Independent (Nexis) 11 June 26 When cabs were first licensed for hire.., the fare was fixed at two thirds of the hackney coach fare.
2000 Irish Voice (N.Y.) (Electronic ed.) 27 June 4 Up to half a ton of dung is dropped daily on the highways..by hackney coach horses during the tourist season.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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