hack Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun one who works hard at boring tasks
    hacker; drudge.
  2. noun a politician who belongs to a small clique that controls a political party for private rather than public ends
    political hack; machine politician; ward-heeler.
  3. noun a mediocre and disdained writer
    hack writer; literary hack.
  4. noun a tool (as a hoe or pick or mattock) used for breaking up the surface of the soil
  5. noun a car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money
    taxi; cab; taxicab.
  6. noun an old or over-worked horse
    plug; jade; nag.
  7. noun a horse kept for hire
  8. noun a saddle horse used for transportation rather than sport etc.
  9. verb cut with a hacking tool
    chop.
  10. verb be able to manage or manage successfully
    cut.
    • I can't hack it anymore
    • she could not cut the long days in the office
  11. verb cut away
    • he hacked his way through the forest
  12. verb kick on the arms
  13. verb kick on the shins
  14. verb fix a computer program piecemeal until it works
    hack on.
    • I'm not very good at hacking but I'll give it my best
  15. verb significantly cut up a manuscript
    cut up.
  16. verb cough spasmodically
    whoop.
    • The patient with emphysema is hacking all day

WordNet

Hack noun
Etymology
See Hatch a half door.
Definitions
  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 transitive verb
Etymology
OE. hakken; akin to D. hakken, G. hacken, Dan. hakke, Sw. hacka, and perh. to E. hew. Cf. Hew to cut, Haggle.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Hacked ; present participle & verbal noun Hacking
Definitions
  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 intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To cough faintly and frequently, or in a short, broken manner; as, a hacking cough.
Hack noun
Definitions
  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 noun
Etymology
Shortened fr. hackney. See Hackney.
Definitions
  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 adjective
Definitions
  1. Hackneyed; hired; mercenary. Wakefield. Macaulay.
Hack transitive verb
Definitions
  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 intransitive verb
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913