Meaning
3 senses(transitive)To make uninteresting or trite by frequent use.
(transitive)To use as a hackney.
(transitive)To carry in a hackney coach.
Examples
4 sentencesI could only come up with hackneyed lines.
A bad writer's prose is full of hackneyed phrases.
It's better not to use rhyme than to use hackneyed rhyme.
In Russian, "love" and "blood", "night" and "help", "roses" and "frost", and so on are all good examples of hackneyed rhymes.
ruЛюбовь — кровь, ночь — помочь, розы — морозы и др. — всё это неплохие примеры избитых рифм. — sharptoothed
Origin
From Middle English hakeney, from the placename Hackney (formerly a town; now a borough ofFrom Middle English hakeney, from the placename Hackney (formerly a town; now a borough of London), used for grazing horses before sale, from Old English *Hacan īeġ (“Haca's Island”, literally “Hook's Island”). The Old French haquenée (“ambling mare for ladies”), Latinized in England to hakeneius, is originally from the English.
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Forms
hackneys, hackneying, hackneyed, hackneyedLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle