[hak] Pronunciation Key | 1. | to cut, notch, slice, chop, or sever (something) with or as with heavy, irregular blows (often fol. by up or down): to hack meat; to hack down trees. |
| 2. | to break up the surface of (the ground). |
| 3. | to clear (a road, path, etc.) by cutting away vines, trees, brush, or the like: They hacked a trail through the jungle. |
| 4. | to damage or injure by crude, harsh, or insensitive treatment; mutilate; mangle: The editor hacked the story to bits. |
| 5. | to reduce or cut ruthlessly; trim: The Senate hacked the budget severely before returning it to the House. |
| 6. | Slang. to deal or cope with; handle: He can't hack all this commuting. |
| 7. | Computers. to devise or modify (a computer program), usually skillfully. |
| 8. | Basketball. to strike the arm of (an opposing ball handler): He got a penalty for hacking the shooter. |
| 9. | British. to kick or kick at the shins of (an opposing player) in Rugby football. |
| 10. | South Midland and Southern U.S. to embarrass, annoy, or disconcert. |
| 11. | to make rough cuts or notches; deal cutting blows. |
| 12. | to cough harshly, usually in short and repeated spasms. |
| 13. | Tennis.
|
| 14. | British. to kick or kick at an opponent's shins in Rugby football. |
| 15. | a cut, gash, or notch. |
| 16. | a tool, as an ax, hoe, or pick, for hacking. |
| 17. | an act or instance of hacking; a cutting blow. |
| 18. | a short, rasping dry cough. |
| 19. | a hesitation in speech. |
| 20. | Curling. an indentation made in the ice at the foot score, for supporting the foot in delivering the stone. |
| 21. | British. a gash in the skin produced by a kick, as in Rugby football. |
| 22. | hack around, Slang. to pass the time idly; indulge in idle talk. |
| 23. | hack it, Slang. to handle or cope with a situation or an assignment adequately and calmly: The new recruit just can't hack it. |
] Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
[hak] Pronunciation Key | 1. | a person, as an artist or writer, who exploits, for money, his or her creative ability or training in the production of dull, unimaginative, and trite work; one who produces banal and mediocre work in the hope of gaining commercial success in the arts: As a painter, he was little more than a hack. |
| 2. | a professional who renounces or surrenders individual independence, integrity, belief, etc., in return for money or other reward in the performance of a task normally thought of as involving a strong personal commitment: a political hack. |
| 3. | a writer who works on the staff of a publisher at a dull or routine task; someone who works as a literary drudge: He was one among the many hacks on Grub Street. |
| 4. | British.
|
| 5. | an old or worn-out horse; jade. |
| 6. | a coach or carriage kept for hire; hackney. |
| 7. | Informal.
|
| 8. | Slang. a prison guard. |
| 9. | to make a hack of; let out for hire. |
| 10. | to make trite or stale by frequent use; hackney. |
| 11. | Informal. to drive a taxi. |
| 12. | to ride or drive on the road at an ordinary pace, as distinguished from cross-country riding or racing. |
| 13. | British. to rent a horse, esp. by the hour. |
| 14. | hired as a hack; of a hired sort: a hack writer; hack work. |
| 15. | hackneyed; trite; banal: hack writing. |
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
[hak] Pronunciation Key | 1. | a rack for drying food, as fish. |
| 2. | a rack for holding fodder for livestock. |
| 3. | a low pile of unburnt bricks in the course of drying. |
| 4. | to place (something) on a hack, as for drying or feeding. |
| 5. | Falconry. to train (a young hawk) by letting it fly freely and feeding it at a hack board or a hack house. |
| 6. | at hack, Falconry. (of a young hawk) being trained to fly freely but to return to a hack house or hack board for food rather than to pursue quarry. |
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
| hack 1
(hāk) Pronunciation Key
v. hacked, hack·ing, hacks v. tr.
v. intr.
n.
[Middle English hakken, from Old English -haccian; see keg- in Indo-European roots. V., intr., sense 2, back-formation from hacker1.] hack'a·ble adj. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
| hack 2
(hāk) Pronunciation Key
n.
v. hacked, hack·ing, hacks v. tr.
v. intr.
adj.
Phrasal Verb(s): hack out Informal To produce (written material, for example), especially hastily or routinely: hacked out a weekly column. [Short for hackney.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
| hack·ie
(hāk'ē) Pronunciation Key
n. A taxicab driver. Also called hack2, hacker2. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
hack (1)
hack (2)
| hack | |
noun | |
| 1. | one who works hard at boring tasks |
| 2. | a politician who belongs to a small clique that controls a political party for private rather than public ends [syn: machine politician] |
| 3. | a mediocre and disdained writer |
| 4. | a tool (as a hoe or pick or mattock) used for breaking up the surface of the soil |
| 5. | a car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money [syn: cab] |
| 6. | an old or over-worked horse |
| 7. | a horse kept for hire |
| 8. | a saddle horse used for transportation rather than sport etc. |
verb | |
| 1. | cut with a hacking tool [syn: chop] |
| 2. | be able to manage or manage successfully; "I can't hack it anymore"; "she could not cut the long days in the office" |
| 3. | cut away; "he hacked his way through the forest" |
| 4. | kick on the arms |
| 5. | kick on the shins |
| 6. | fix a computer program piecemeal until it works; "I'm not very good at hacking but I'll give it my best" |
| 7. | significantly cut up a manuscript |
| 8. | cough spasmodically; "The patient with emphysema is hacking all day" |
Main Entry: 1hack
Pronunciation: 'hak
Function: intransitive verb
: to cough in a short dry manner
Main Entry: 2hack
Function: noun
: a short dry cough
hack jargon
1. Originally, a quick job that produces what is needed, but not well.
2. An incredibly good, and perhaps very time-consuming, piece of work that produces exactly what is needed.
3. To bear emotionally or physically. "I can't hack this heat!"
4. To work on something (typically a program). In an immediate sense: "What are you doing?" "I'm hacking TECO." In a general (time-extended) sense: "What do you do around here?" "I hack TECO." More generally, "I hack "foo"" is roughly equivalent to ""foo" is my major interest (or project)". "I hack solid-state physics." See Hacking X for Y.
5. To pull a prank on. See hacker.
6. To interact with a computer in a playful and exploratory rather than goal-directed way. "Whatcha up to?" "Oh, just hacking."
7. Short for hacker.
8. See nethack.
9. (MIT) To explore the basements, roof ledges, and steam tunnels of a large, institutional building, to the dismay of Physical Plant workers and (since this is usually performed at educational institutions) the Campus Police. This activity has been found to be eerily similar to playing adventure games such as Dungeons and Dragons and Zork. See also vadding.
See also neat hack, real hack.
[The Jargon File]
(1996-08-26)
hack
[very common]1. n. Originally, a quick job that produces what is needed, but not well.
2. n. An incredibly good, and perhaps very time-consuming, piece of work that produces exactly what is needed.
3. vt. To bear emotionally or physically. "I can't hack this heat!"
4. vt. To work on something (typically a program). In an immediate sense: "What are you doing?" "I'm hacking TECO." In a general (time-extended) sense: "What do you do around here?" "I hack TECO." More generally, "I hack `foo'" is roughly equivalent to "`foo' is my major interest (or project)". "I hack solid-state physics." See Hacking X for Y.
5. vt. To pull a prank on. See sense 2 and hacker (sense 5).
6. vi. To interact with a computer in a playful and exploratory rather than goal-directed way. "Whatcha up to?" "Oh, just hacking."
7. n. Short for hacker.
8. See nethack.
9. [MIT] v. To explore the basements, roof ledges, and steam tunnels of a large, institutional building, to the dismay of Physical Plant workers and (since this is usually performed at educational institutions) the Campus Police. This activity has been found to be eerily similar to playing adventure games such as Dungeons and Dragons and Zork. See also vadding.
Constructions on this term abound. They include `happy hacking' (a farewell), `how's hacking?' (a friendly greeting among hackers) and `hack, hack' (a fairly content-free but friendly comment, often used as a temporary farewell). For more on this totipotent term see "The Meaning of Hack". See also neat hack, real hack.
Hack
Hack\, n. [See Hatch a half door.]1. A frame or grating of various kinds; as, a frame for drying bricks, fish, or cheese; a rack for feeding cattle; a grating in a mill race, etc. 2. Unburned brick or tile, stacked up for drying.Hack
Hack\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hacked; p. pr. & vb. n. Hacking.] [OE. hakken; akin to D. hakken, G. hacken, Dan. hakke, Sw. hacka, and perh. to E. hew. Cf. Hew to cut, Haggle.]1. To cut irregulary, without skill or definite purpose; to notch; to mangle by repeated strokes of a cutting instrument; as, to hack a post. My sword hacked like a handsaw. --Shak. 2. Fig.: To mangle in speaking. --Shak.Hack
Hack\, v. i. To cough faintly and frequently, or in a short, broken manner; as, a hacking cough.Hack
Hack\, n. 1. A notch; a cut. --Shak. 2. An implement for cutting a notch; a large pick used in breaking stone. 3. A hacking; a catch in speaking; a short, broken cough. --Dr. H. More. 4. (Football) A kick on the shins. --T. Hughes. Hack saw, a handsaw having a narrow blade stretched in an iron frame, for cutting metal.Hack
Hack\, n. [Shortened fr. hackney. See Hackney.]1. A horse, hackneyed or let out for common hire; also, a horse used in all kinds of work, or a saddle horse, as distinguished from hunting and carriage horses. 2. A coach or carriage let for hire; particularly, a a coach with two seats inside facing each other; a hackney coach. On horse, on foot, in hacks and gilded chariots. --Pope. 3. A bookmaker who hires himself out for any sort of literary work; an overworked man; a drudge. Here lies poor Ned Purdon, from misery freed, Who long was a bookseller's hack. --Goldsmith. 4. A procuress.Hack
Hack\, a. Hackneyed; hired; mercenary. --Wakefield. Hack writer, a hack; one who writes for hire. "A vulgar hack writer." --Macaulay.Hack
Hack\, v. t. 1. To use as a hack; to let out for hire. 2. To use frequently and indiscriminately, so as to render trite and commonplace. The word "remarkable" has been so hacked of late. --J. H. Newman.Hack
Hack\, v. i. 1. To be exposed or offered or to common use for hire; to turn prostitute. --Hanmer. 2. To live the life of a drudge or hack. --Goldsmith.Hack
Hack"ney\, n.; pl. Hackneys. [OE. haceney, hacenay; cf. F. haquen['e]e a pacing horse, an ambling nag, OF. also haquen['e]e, Sp. hacanea, OSp. facanea, D. hakkenei, also OF. haque horse, Sp. haca, OSp. faca; perh akin to E. hack to cut, and orig. meaning, a jolting horse. Cf. Hack a horse, Nag.]1. A horse for riding or driving; a nag; a pony. --Chaucer. 2. A horse or pony kept for hire. 3. A carriage kept for hire; a hack; a hackney coach. 4. A hired drudge; a hireling; a prostitute.Hack
Hack"ster\, n. [From Hack to cut.] A bully; a bravo; a ruffian; an assassin. [Obs.] --Milton.Hack
Hag"gle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Haggled; p. pr. & vb. n. Haggling.] [Freq. of Scot. hag, E. hack. See Hack to cut.] To cut roughly or hack; to cut into small pieces; to notch or cut in an unskillful manner; to make rough or mangle by cutting; as, a boy haggles a stick of wood. Suffolk first died, and York, all haggled o'er, Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteeped. --Shak.hack
hack: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary
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