hack

verb hacks · hacking · hacked

1. transitive To chop or cut down in a rough manner. They hacked the brush down and made their way through the jungle.
2. To withstand or put up with a difficult situation. Can you hack it out here with no electricity or running water?
3. To make a quick code change to patch a computer program, often one that, while being effective, is inelegant or makes the program harder to maintain. I hacked in a fix for this bug, but we'll still have to do a real fix later.

   Similar: frob, tweak, kludge, bodge

4. To accomplish a difficult programming task. He can hack like no one else and make the program work as expected.
5. slang, transitive To work with something on an intimately technical level. I'm currently hacking distributed garbage collection.
6. broadly, colloquial, transitive To apply a trick, shortcut, skill, or novel method to something to increase productivity, efficiency or ease. I read up on dating tips so I can hack my sex life.
7. slang, transitive To hack into; to gain unauthorized access to (a computer system, e.g., a website, or network) by manipulating code. FACT: The People’s Republic of China (China) and their proxies bought, stole, or hacked as many as 220 million Americans’ voter registration data.

   Similar: crack

8. broadly, slang, transitive To gain unauthorized access to a computer or online account belonging to (a person or organisation). When I logged in to the social network, I discovered I'd been hacked.
9. intransitive To cheat by using unauthorized modifications. That player must be hacking, they got so many kills last game.
10. To strike an opponent with one's hockey stick, typically on the leg but occasionally and more seriously on the back, arm, head, etc. He's going to the penalty box after hacking the defender in front of the goal.
11. To make a flailing attempt to hit the puck with a hockey stick. There's a scramble in front of the net as the forwards are hacking at the bouncing puck.
12. To swing at a pitched ball. He went to the batter's box hacking.
13. To kick (a player) on the shins. Barcelona had been harried and hurried and stretched thin by the midway point in the second half. Tackles flew in. Toes were crushed, shins barked, ankles hacked.
14. To strike in a frantic movement. Centre-back Branislav Ivanovic then took a wild slash at the ball but his captain John Terry saved Chelsea's skin by hacking the ball clear for a corner with Kevin Davies set to strike from just six yards out.
15. transitive To strike lightly as part of tapotement massage. […] laterally from and then towards the spine, and continued downwards from the shoulders until the whole back has been hacked.

noun hacks

1. countable, uncountable A tool for chopping.
2. countable, uncountable A hacking blow.
3. countable, uncountable A gouge or notch made by such a blow. Look you what hacks are on his helmet !
4. countable, figuratively, uncountable A try, an attempt.

   Similar: crack

5. countable, uncountable The foothold traditionally cut into the ice from which the person who throws the rock pushes off for delivery.
6. countable, obsolete, uncountable A mattock or a miner's pickaxe.
7. countable, informal, uncountable An improvised device or solution to a problem. Luckily for us J company picked us up in their hack — two snowmobiles with a big inflatable raft strapped between them.
8. countable, slang, uncountable An expedient, temporary solution, such as a small patch or change to code, meant to be replaced with a more elegant solution at a later date; a workaround. Valleysoft released a hack yesterday to fix the "crashes when more than 50 recipients" bug for people who need it right away. The company says its next release will also solve this as well as add new features.

   Similar: band-aid, contrivance, improvision, improvisation, kludge, makeshift, quick fix, patch

9. countable, dated, slang, uncountable A computer programmer who makes quick but inelegant changes to computer code to solve problems or add features. Tsang is great but Zhou is such a hack — I wouldn't want him on my project.
10. countable, dated, slang, uncountable A computer programmer, particularly a veteran or someone not immediately expected to be capable of programming. Terry wrote that module? I didn't know she was a hack too!
11. countable, slang, uncountable An interesting technical achievement, particularly in computer programming. Flugensoft came out with a neat hack last week that allows your watch to warm up your car if it's below freezing outside.
12. colloquial, countable, uncountable A trick, shortcut, skill, or novel method to increase productivity, efficiency, or ease. Putting your phone in a sandwich bag when you go to the beach is such a great hack.

    Similar: lifehack

13. countable, slang, uncountable The illegal accessing of a computer network.

    Similar: exploit

14. countable, slang, uncountable A video game or any computer software that has been altered from its original state. […] found out a discarded sex mini-game in the code, and made it available again in the modified PC version of the game that they nicknamed “Hot Coffee.” This hack of the game created a controversy, since the inclusion of sexual content would change its age rating, […]
15. countable, uncountable A practical joke that showcases cleverness and creativity.
16. countable, slang, uncountable Time check, as for example upon synchronization of wristwatches.
17. countable, uncountable The act of striking an opponent with one's hockey stick, typically on the leg but occasionally and more seriously on the back, arm, head, etc. Zersky is still down after that nasty hack by Lenner.
18. countable, uncountable A swing of the bat at a pitched ball by the batter, particularly a choppy, ungraceful one that misses the ball such as at a fastball. And Melnick goes down with one last hack at an O'Malley fastball.
19. countable, uncountable A kick on the shins in football of any type. Wales are awarded a free kick after a minor hack by Järvinen on Llewellyn.
20. slang, uncountable Confinement of an officer to their stateroom as a punishment. You've been busted, you lost your qualifications as section leader three times, put in hack twice by me, with a history of high speed passes over five air control towers, and one admiral's daughter!
21. countable, slang, uncountable An airplane of poor quality or in poor condition. Henebry's planes returned to Japan to reload, and early in the morning brought almost 3,000 more troopers to Korea […] Before sunrise next day, all troops in the maneuver had been picked up again and airlifted in “Henebry Hacks” back to Japan.

noun hacks

1. A board upon which the falcon's food is placed; used by extension for the state of partial freedom in which they are kept before being trained.
2. A food-rack for cattle.
3. A rack used to dry something, such as bricks, fish, or cheese.
4. A grating in a mill race.

verb hacks · hacking · hacked

1. To lay (bricks) on a rack to dry.
2. To keep (young hawks) in a state of partial freedom, before they are trained.

noun hacks

1. A horse for hire, especially one which is old and tired. A cold wind, a piercing rain, and a bad road, with a worse hack (for his own horses had been knocked up), rendered more acute the misery which he, as a parted lover, was bound to feel.
2. A person, often a journalist, hired to do routine work. I got by on hack work for years before I finally published my novel.
3. derogatory Someone who is available for hire; hireling, mercenary.
4. slang The driver of a taxicab (hackney cab).
5. Canada, US, colloquial A vehicle let for hire; originally, a hackney cab, now typically a taxicab. On horse, on foot, in hacks and gilded chariots.
6. A hearse. 1920s, Jimmie Rodgers, Frankie and Johnny Bring out the rubber-tired buggie/Bring out the rubber-tired hack/I'm takin' my Johnny to the graveyard/But I ain't gonna bring him back
7. derogatory An untalented writer. Dason is nothing but a two-bit hack.
8. derogatory One who is professionally successful despite producing mediocre work. (Usually applied to persons in a creative field.)
9. derogatory A talented writer-for-hire, paid to put others' thoughts into felicitous language.
10. A political agitator.
11. UK, derogatory A person who frequently canvasses for votes, either directly or by appearing to continuously act with the ulterior motive of furthering their political career.
12. obsolete A writer 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.
13. obsolete A procuress.

Similar: nag

verb hacks · hacking · hacked

1. dated To make common or cliched; to vulgarise.
2. To ride a horse at a regular pace; to ride on a road (as opposed to riding cross-country etc.).
3. obsolete To live the life of a drudge or hack. Poor madam , now condemn'd to hack The rest of life with anxious Jack
4. To use as a hack; to let out for hire.
5. To use frequently and indiscriminately, so as to render trite and commonplace. The word "remarkable" has been so hacked of late.
6. To drive a hackney cab. When I was hacking in Brooklyn, I used to run him over to the Court Street restaurants, where he'd sit in Nick and Tony's Pizzeria […]

verb hacks · hacking · hacked

1. intransitive To cough noisily. This cold is awful. I can't stop hacking.

noun hacks

1. countable, uncountable A dry cough.
2. countable, uncountable A hacking; a catch in speaking; a short, broken cough. he speaks to this very question: which he does with so many hacks and hesitations

interjection

1. An onomatopoeia for coughing. Haaaack... Oooooooog... A-CHOO! That was terrible.. I gotta get in shape...

noun hacks

1. A small ball usually made of woven cotton or suede and filled with rice, sand or some other filler, for use in hackeysack.

verb hacks · hacking · hacked

1. To play hackeysack.

proper noun Hacks

1. A surname.