There is a kind of fatality, to use one of his own hacknied phrases, which persues Mr.-through all the mazes of his conduct in the inferiour sphere of politicks in which he moves. L****, A Comment on a Late Extraordinary Letter…., 1760 of his poor bleeding country, (as the trite and hackneyed phrase in that kingdom is) declared publickly against abiding any longer in a realm where such corruption was prevalent. Some years past one of the hastily sprung-up and hot-bed patriots of Ireland, being agitated with violent throes for the oppression, sufferings, &c. Warburton, The Works of Shakespeare, Volume the Second, 1747īut as fables have been told by some in verse, that they might be more easily remembered they have been related by others in a barbarous jargon of hackneyed phrases, that they might be more readily understood. Some two hundred years later we began to use the word as a verb, initially referring to the riding of a general purpose horse, and later with the meaning of “to make trite.” The adjective form came about at the same time (late 16th century), meaning “banal.” In the middle of the 18th century hackneyed came into use, and replaced hackney as the adjective of choice for describing the overused aspects of life.įor the much-used hacknied expressions being now very imperfectly known, great care is required not to act in this case temerariously. It came into English use around the 14th century, initially as a noun (the general purpose horse mentioned above). The origin of hackney is uncertain, although some have claimed that the word comes from the name of a former town in England. Stay tuned for now-baffling phrases like "the dreamy mazes of the waltz" and "neither fish flesh nor good red herring."
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