A cab. Hence hack-hire, hack-man, &c.
1704. We’ll take a Hack,—our maids shall go with us.—Steele, ‘Lying Lover,’ iii. 2. (N.E.D.)
1794. I had rather ride in a hack with a fine young girl, than hear the history of the devil from Adam’s fall.—Mass. Spy, Sept. 3.
1795. There is but little safety for the ladies and children [in the streets of Boston] but in the hacks.—Boston-Gazette, Dec. 28. (N.E.D.)
1797. I meet with loaded teams, or loaded hacks.—Mass. Spy, June 28.
1806. Died, in this town, Mr. Daniel Henry, hackman.—The Repertory, Boston, Oct. 3.
1812. A New and Convenient Hack Stand is advertised in the Boston-Gazette, Sept. 10.
1816. Somewhere or other, either at a ball, party, sleighing match, or in a hack, the Spanish minister had signified something about the Floridas.—Speech of Mr. Hardin in Congress: Mass. Spy, April 10.
1819. At the intersection of Murray-street and Broadway, our horses were stopt by the hackmen on the stand at that place.—Id., June 16: from the N.Y. Gazette.
1824. Two gentlemen took hacks [from Washington] to Bladensburgh, with an intention of fighting a duel.—Cincinn. Gazette, Jan. 30, p. 2/3.
1825. “Better call a hack then,” replied she.—J. K. Paulding, ‘John Bull in America,’ p. 172 (N.Y.).
1829.
| And Jotham didst thou never mind | |
| The children, as these Hacks passed by, | |
| How some would run and get behind, | |
| And those who could not reach would cry, | |
| Ho, Coachman, cut behind? | |
Mass. Spy, April 8. |
1833. [About 1790] a hack had not been heard of.—Watson, ‘Historic Tales of Philadelphia,’ p. 131.
1834. They returned to Miss Violet’s lodgings in a hack.—Robert C. Sands, ‘Writings,’ ii. 185 (N.Y.).
1834. Are there many hacks engaged?—Yes, a great number.—Vermont Free Press, Oct. 25.
1835. [At Detroit we] rode in a hack provided by the keeper of the hotel (a custom in these parts) to Griswold’s Mansion-House.—C. R. Gilman, ‘Life on the Lakes,’ i. 49 (NY., 1836).
1837. The Doctor, a medical student, a New-Orleans gentleman, and myself, took a hack together.—Knick. Mag., x. 245 (Sept.).
1842. Hack-hire for loafers who were too lazy or too proud to walk in a funeral procession.—Mr. Watterson of Tennessee, House of Repr., July 2: Cong. Globe, p. 594, App.
1842. Drivers of hacks, omnibuses, &c.—Phila. Spirit of the Times, July 19.
1844. [He] meekly bore indignities upon a matter of precedence of a hack.—Watmough, ‘Scribblings and Sketches,’ p. 156.
1846. Fourteen hacks, and a dearbourn wagon at the tail of the funeral.—W. T. Porter, ed., ‘A Quarter Race in Kentucky,’ etc., p. 49.
1848. The depo was so close that I jest fit my way through the hack drivers to the cars, without any serious accidents.—W. T. Thompson, ‘Major Jones’s Sketches of Travel,’ p. 57 (Phila.).
1848. I was like the gall what married the chap to git rid of him, and I got into the fust hack and druv off.—Id., p. 58.
1848. [He was] rearin and pitchin among the hackmen and porters like a blind dog in a meat house, and tryin to git into the crowd what was gathered all round the baggage like flies round a fat gourd.—Id., p. 109.
1848. The hackman ax’d me what hotel I wanted to go to.—Id., p. 110.
1850. We find ourselves in Boston, surrounded by eager hackmen.—Hawthorne, ‘American Note-books,’ p. 370. (N.E.D.)
1850. Simon rose to the post of Richard’s hack-driver.—S. Judd, ‘Richard Edney,’ p. 462.
1853. At last, when there was but a single moment to spare, a hack drove up furiously, and a veiled lady hastily descended, and gave her hand to her expectant admirer.—Durivage, ‘Life Scenes,’ p. 130.
1857. A hack, rapidly driven, came suddenly upon her.—San Francisco Call, May 15.
1869. Dr. E. E. Hale, in ‘Round the World in a Hack,’ rather oddly explains that “on Massachusetts Bay” a hack is a hired carriage.
