Search

[hak-er] /ˈhæk ər/

noun
1.
a person or thing that hacks.
2.
Slang. a person who engages in an activity without talent or skill:
weekend hackers on the golf course.
3.
Computers.

[hak] /hæk/
noun
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.
Synonyms: scribbler.
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.
verb (used with object)
9.
to make a hack of; let out for hire.
Synonyms: lease, rent.
10.
to make trite or stale by frequent use; hackney.
verb (used without object)
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, especially by the hour.
adjective
14.
hired as a hack; of a hired sort:
a hack writer; hack work.
15.
; trite; banal:
hack writing.
/ˈhækə/
noun
1.
a person that hacks
2.
(slang) a computer fanatic, esp one who through a personal computer breaks into the computer system of a company, government, etc
/hæk/
verb
1.
when intr, usually foll by at or away. to cut or chop (at) irregularly, roughly, or violently
2.
to cut and clear (a way, path, etc), as through undergrowth
3.
(in sport, esp rugby) to foul (an opposing player) by kicking or striking his shins
4.
(basketball) to commit the foul of striking (an opposing player) on the arm
5.
(intransitive) to cough in short dry spasmodic bursts
6.
(transitive) to reduce or cut (a story, article, etc) in a damaging way
7.
to manipulate a computer program skilfully, esp, to gain unauthorized access to another computer system
8.
(transitive) (slang) to tolerate; cope with: I joined the army but I couldn’t hack it
9.
hack to bits, to damage severely: his reputation was hacked to bits
noun
10.
a cut, chop, notch, or gash, esp as made by a knife or axe
11.
any tool used for shallow digging, such as a mattock or pick
12.
a chopping blow
13.
a dry spasmodic cough
14.
a kick on the shins, as in rugby
15.
a wound from a sharp kick
/hæk/
noun
1.
a horse kept for riding or (more rarely) for driving
2.
an old, ill-bred, or overworked horse
3.
a horse kept for hire
4.
(Brit) a country ride on horseback
5.
a drudge
6.
a person who produces mediocre literary or journalistic work
7.
(US) Also called hackney. a coach or carriage that is for hire
8.
(US, informal) Also called hackie

verb
9.
(Brit) to ride (a horse) cross-country for pleasure
10.
(transitive) to let (a horse) out for hire
11.
(transitive) (informal) to write (an article) as or in the manner of a hack
12.
(intransitive) (US, informal) to drive a taxi
adjective
13.
(prenominal) banal, mediocre, or unoriginal: hack writing
/hæk/
noun
1.
a rack used for fodder for livestock
2.
a board on which meat is placed for a hawk
3.
a pile or row of unfired bricks stacked to dry
verb (transitive)
4.
to place (fodder) in a hack
5.
to place (bricks) in a hack
n.

“a chopper, cutter,” perhaps also “one who makes hacking tools,” early 13c. (as a surname), agent noun from hack (v.1). Meaning “one who gains unauthorized access to computer records” is attested by 1983, agent noun from hack (v.2). Said to be from slightly earlier tech slang sense of “one who works like a hack at writing and experimenting with software, one who enjoys computer programming for its own sake,” 1976, reputedly a usage that evolved at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (however an MIT student from the late 1960s recalls hack (n.) being used then and there in the general sense of “creative prank,” which clouds its sense connection with the “writing for hire” word, and there may be a source or an influence here in hack (v.1)).
v.

“to cut roughly, cut with chopping blows,” c.1200, from verb found in stem of Old English tohaccian “hack to pieces,” from West Germanic *hakkon (cf. Old Frisian hackia “to chop or hack,” Dutch hakken, Old High German hacchon, German hacken), from PIE *keg- “hook, tooth.” Perhaps influenced by Old Norse höggva “to hack, hew” (cf. hacksaw). Slang sense of “cope with” (such as in can’t hack it) is first recorded in American English 1955, with a sense of “get through by some effort,” as a jungle (cf. phrase hack after “keep working away at” attested from late 14c.). Related: Hacked; hacking.

“illegally enter a computer system,” by 1984; apparently a back-formation from hacker. Related: Hacked; hacking. Earlier verb senses were “to make commonplace” (1745), “make common by everyday use” (1590s), “use (a horse) for ordinary riding” (1560s), all from hack (n.2).

“to cough with a short, dry cough,” 1802, perhaps from hack (v.1) on the notion of being done with difficulty, or else imitative.
n.

“tool for chopping,” early 14c., from hack (v.1); cf. Danish hakke “mattock,” German Hacke “pickax, hatchet, hoe.” Meaning “an act of cutting” is from 1836; figurative sense of “a try, an attempt” is first attested 1898.

“person hired to do routine work,” c.1700, ultimately short for hackney “an ordinary horse” (c.1300), probably from place name Hackney, Middlesex (q.v.). Apparently nags were raised on the pastureland there in early medieval times. Extended sense of “horse for hire” (late 14c.) led naturally to “broken-down nag,” and also “prostitute” (1570s) and “drudge” (1540s). Sense of “carriage for hire” (1704) led to modern slang for “taxicab.” As an adjective, 1734, from the noun. Hack writer is first recorded 1826, though hackney writer is at least 50 years earlier. Hack-work is recorded from 1851.

noun

A persistent but generally unskillful performer or athlete; duffer (1950s+)

noun

[said to be fr hack2, computer jargon for a clever and subtle correction of a flow in a computer program]

noun

verb

To drive a taxi or bus: I worked in an office for years. Then I took to ”hacking” (1931+)

[ultimately fr hackney, ”horse,” fr Hackney, a village incorporated into London, fr Old English ”Haca’s island” or ”hook island”; presumably the horses were associated with the place]

noun

verb

[nearly all senses ultimately fr hack, ”cut, chop”; black and prison senses fr identification of prison guards with white persons in the pattern identical with that of the man; prison guards perhaps so called because they sometimes beat prisoners]

verb

To gain unauthorized access to a computer system: hack into my site (1985+)

person, jargon
(Originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe) 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary.
2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.
3. A person capable of appreciating hack value.
4. A person who is good at programming quickly.
5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in “a Unix hacker”. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.)
6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example.
7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.
8. (Deprecated) A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence “password hacker”, “network hacker”. The correct term is cracker.
The term “hacker” also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net (see The Network and Internet address). It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic.
It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new members are gladly welcome. Thus while it is gratifying to be called a hacker, false claimants to the title are quickly labelled as “bogus” or a “wannabee”.
9. (University of Maryland, rare) A programmer who does not understand proper programming techniques and principles and doesn’t have a Computer Science degree. Someone who just bangs on the keyboard until something happens. For example, “This program is nothing but spaghetti code. It must have been written by a hacker”.
[Jargon File]
(1996-08-26)