Meaning of hack in English
Verb
hackEtymology
Old English haccian ‘cut in pieces’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch hakken and German hackenDefinitions
1. cut with a hacking tool- 2. informal: be able to manage or manage successfully
Examples
- « I can't hack it anymore »
- « she could not cut the long days in the office »
- 3. cut away
Examples
- « he hacked with way through the forest »
- 4. kick on the arms
- 5. kick on the shins
- 6. fix a computer program piecemeal until it works
Examples
- « I'm not very good at hacking but I'll give it my best »
- 7. significantly cut up a manuscript
- 8. cough spasmodically
Examples
- « The patient with emphysema is hacking all day »
Noun
hackEtymology
Middle English (in hack (sense 2 of the noun)): abbreviation of hackney. hack (sense 1 of the noun) dates from the late 17th centuryDefinitions
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
- 3. a mediocre and disdained writer
- 4. a tool (as a hoe or pick or mattock) used for hacking the soil
- 5. a car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money
- 6. an old or over-worked horse
- 7. a horse kept for hire
- 8. a saddle horse used for transportation rather than sport etc.