Wordorigins.org

This is a slang phrase with many variants. The verb is usually either hawk or hock and the subject varies between loogie, louie, and lunger. It means to cough up phlegm and dates to the 1970s.

Hawk is an old verb meaning to clear the throat or cough up phlegm. It dates to the late 16th century and is probably echoic in origin. From Richard Mulcaster’s 1581 Positions:

For hauking vp of blood.

Hockey fans know what a hat trick is, scoring three goals in a single game, but few know what it refers to. The trick part is easy enough, that is simply the sense of that word meaning feat or accomplishment, but why hat?

The term is originally from the sport of cricket. In the late 19th century, a bowler who took three wickets on three successive balls would be awarded a hat as a prize from his club. From John Lillywhite’s Cricketer’s Companion of 1877:

Having on one occasion taken six wickets in seven balls, thus performing the hat-trick successfully.

By the early 20th century, the term was being used more generally for any three-fold accomplishment. From the Daily Chronicle of 12 August 1909:

It is seldom that an apprentice does the “hat trick,” but the feat was accomplished by...an apprentice...His three successes were gained on Soldier..., Lady Carlton..., and Hawkweed.

(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)

Harlot is a borrowing from Old French into Middle English. It did not originally mean a woman of low morals, but rather a vagabond, villain, or otherwise low-life man. From Ancren Riwle, a Middle English tract written sometime before 1225:

And beggen ase on harlot, ȝif hit neod is, his liueneð.
(And beg as does a harlot, give him his needs, his livelihood.)

About a century later, it was being used to refer to a jester or a buffoon, a humorous enterainer. From Richard Rolle of Hampole’s Psalter, written sometime before 1340:

Hoppynge & daunnceynge of tumblers and herlotis, and other spectakils.
(Hopping & dancing of tumblers and harlots, and other spectacles.)

Several people have emailed me asking where the phrase happy as a clam comes from. They are confused about why anyone would assume that clams were happy. Frankly, I don’t understand their confusion. Wouldn’t you be happy if you got to spend your life at the beach, just lying in the surf with no responsibilities?

Well, they wouldn’t be confused if they knew the whole phrase. Originally, the phrase went happy as a clam in high water. The phrase is an Americanism, dating to at least the 1834 when it appeared in Harvardiana:

That peculiar degree of satisfaction, usually denoted by the phrase “as happy as a clam.”

The full phrase is recorded in Jonathan Slick’s 1844 High Life in New York:

They seemed as happy as clams in high water.

(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)

Handicap comes from an old method of setting odds in a horse race or other contest. Two bettors would engage a neutral umpire to determine the odds in an unequal contest. The bettors would put their hands holding forfeit money into a hat or cap. The umpire would announce the odds and the bettors would withdraw their hands—hands full meaning that they accepted the odds and the bet was on, or hands empty meaning they did not accept the bet and were willing to forfeit the money. If one forfeited, then the money went to the other bettor. If both agreed on either forfeiting or going ahead with the wager, then the umpire kept the money as payment. The word is a shortening of hand in the cap.

How did a word for a taxi also become a term meaning overused and worn out?

Hackney comes from the Old French haquenée, meaning a gentle, riding horse, an ambling horse. It was adopted into English in the 14th century meaning a horse of middle size or fair quality. From The Romance of Sir Beues of Hamtoun, a 14th century poem:

Ac nim a ligter hakenai & lef her the swerd Morgelai.
(But take a lighter hackney & leave here the sword Morgelai.)

Very early on, by 1393 at the latest, the word had also acquired the meaning of a horse for hire. From William Langland’s Piers Plowman (C Text) of that year:

Ac hakeneyes hadde thei none. bote hakeneyes to hyre.
(But hackneys had they none, hackneys for hire to boot.)

The metaphor behind this modern slang term for a computer enthusiast, particularly one who breaks into other computer systems, is not certain, but it is probably one of continually hacking or chopping away at something until it finally gives way.

The noun hack, meaning an attempt or a try at something, is nearly 200 years old. It dates to as early as 1836 when it appears in “Davy Crockett’s” Exploits and Adventures in Texas (this book was alleged to be based on Crockett’s diary, but is a fraud; who wrote it, however, doesn’t matter when it comes to lexical evidence):

Better take a hack by way of trying your luck at guessing.¹