Meaning of hack in English

Table of contents

Verb
hack
Etymology
Old English haccian ‘cut in pieces’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch hakken and German hacken
Definitions
1. cut with a hacking tool
Derived terms
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 »
Derived terms
- hacker
7. significantly cut up a manuscript
8. cough spasmodically
Examples
- « The patient with emphysema is hacking all day »
Noun
hack
Etymology
Middle English (in hack (sense 2 of the noun)): abbreviation of hackney. hack (sense 1 of the noun) dates from the late 17th century
Definitions
1. one who works hard at boring tasks
Derived terms
- dig
- drudge
- fag
- grind
- labor
- labour
- moil
- toil
- travail
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
Derived terms
- chop
5. a car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money
Derived terms
- taxi
6. an old or over-worked horse
Derived terms
7. a horse kept for hire
8. a saddle horse used for transportation rather than sport etc.

Famous quotes

« I didn't think that college math was for me. I didn't think I'd be able to hack it. And that perception of math not being for girls, not being for girls who see themselves as socially well adjusted has got to change. »
Danica McKellar
« I get hired by companies to hack into their systems and break into their physical facilities to find security holes. Our success rate is 100% we've always found a hole. »
Kevin Mitnick
« Every ISP is being attacked, maliciously both from in the United States and outside of the United States, by those who want to invade people's privacy. But more importantly they want to take control of computers, they want to hack them, they want to steal information. »
Darrell Issa
« I get hired to hack into computers now and sometimes it's actually easier than it was years ago. »
Kevin Mitnick