[heks] 
| 1. | to bewitch; practice witchcraft on: He was accused of hexing his neighbors' cows because they suddenly stopped giving milk. |
| 2. | spell; charm: With all this rain, somebody must have put a hex on our picnic. |
| 3. | a witch. |
[heks] | 1. | hexagonal: a bolt with a matching washer and hex nut. |
| 2. | hexadecimal (def. 1). |
| 1. | hexagon |
| 2. | hexagonal. |
| a combining form meaning “six,” used in the formation of compound words: hexapartite. |
[hek-suh-des-uh-muhl] | 1. | Also, hex. of or pertaining to a numbering system that uses 16 as the radix, employing the numerals 0 through 9 and representing digits greater than 9 with the letters A through F. |
| 2. | relating to or encoded in a hexadecimal system, esp. for use by a digital computer. |
| hex 1 (hěks) n.
[Pennsylvania Dutch, from German hexen, to hex, from Hexe, witch, from Middle High German hecse, from Old High German hagzissa.] hex'er n. Word History: The word hex is a good example of the sort of borrowing from other languages that occurred in the English-speaking former colonies of Great Britain. German and Swiss immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania in the late 17th and 18th centuries spoke a dialect of German known as Pennsylvania Dutch. In this dialect hexe was the equivalent of the German verb hexen, "to practice sorcery." The English verb hex, first recorded in the sense "to practice witchcraft" in an 1830 work called Annals of Philadelphia, is borrowed from Pennsylvania Dutch, as is the noun. |
| hex 2 (hěks) adj. Hexagonal. Used of hardware. |
hexa- or hex-
pref.
Six: hexagram.
Containing six atoms, molecules, or groups: hexose.
hex
1. hexadecimal.
2. A 6-pack of anything (compare quad). Neither usage has anything to do with magic or black art, though the pun is appreciated and occasionally used by hackers. True story: As a joke, some hackers once offered some surplus ICs for sale to be worn as protective amulets against hostile magic. The chips were, of course, hex inverters.
3.
[The Jargon File]
(1995-03-06)
