noun1. a compact breed of harness horse with a high-stepping trot
2. a. a coach or carriage that is for hire
b. (as modifier)
a hackney carriage
3. a popular term for hack2 (sense 1)
verb4. (tr; usually passive) to make commonplace and banal by too frequent use
Word origin
C14: probably after
Hackney, where horses were formerly raised; sense 4 meaning derives from the allusion toa weakened hired horse