- hack
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hack1
/hak/, v.t.1. to cut, notch, slice, chop, or sever (something) with or as with heavy, irregular blows (often fol. by up or down): to hack meat; to hack down trees.2. to break up the surface of (the ground).3. to clear (a road, path, etc.) by cutting away vines, trees, brush, or the like: They hacked a trail through the jungle.4. to damage or injure by crude, harsh, or insensitive treatment; mutilate; mangle: The editor hacked the story to bits.5. to reduce or cut ruthlessly; trim: The Senate hacked the budget severely before returning it to the House.6. Slang. to deal or cope with; handle: He can't hack all this commuting.7. Computers. to devise or modify (a computer program), usually skillfully.8. Basketball. to strike the arm of (an opposing ball handler): He got a penalty for hacking the shooter.9. Brit. to kick or kick at the shins of (an opposing player) in Rugby football.10. South Midland and Southern U.S. to embarrass, annoy, or disconcert.v.i.11. to make rough cuts or notches; deal cutting blows.12. to cough harshly, usually in short and repeated spasms.13. Tennis.a. to take a poor, ineffective, or awkward swing at the ball.b. to play tennis at a mediocre level.14. Brit. to kick or kick at an opponent's shins in Rugby football.15. hack around, Slang. to pass the time idly; indulge in idle talk.16. hack it, Slang. to handle or cope with a situation or an assignment adequately and calmly: The new recruit just can't hack it.n.17. a cut, gash, or notch.18. a tool, as an ax, hoe, or pick, for hacking.19. an act or instance of hacking; a cutting blow.20. a short, rasping dry cough.21. a hesitation in speech.22. Curling. an indentation made in the ice at the foot score, for supporting the foot in delivering the stone.23. Brit. a gash in the skin produced by a kick, as in Rugby football.[1150-1200; ME hacken; cf. OE tohaccian to hack to pieces; c. D hakken, G hacken]hack2/hak/, n.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.4. Brit.a. a horse kept for common hire or adapted for general work, esp. ordinary riding.b. a saddle horse used for transportation, rather than for show, hunting, or the like.5. an old or worn-out horse; jade.6. a coach or carriage kept for hire; hackney.7. Informal.a. a taxi.b. Also, hackie. a cabdriver.8. Slang. a prison guard.v.t.9. to make a hack of; let out for hire.10. to make trite or stale by frequent use; hackney.v.i.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. Brit. to rent a horse, esp. by the hour.adj.14. hired as a hack; of a hired sort: a hack writer; hack work.15. hackneyed; trite; banal: hack writing.[1680-90; short for HACKNEY]hack3/hak/, n.1. a rack for drying food, as fish.2. a rack for holding fodder for livestock.3. a low pile of unburnt bricks in the course of drying.4. at hack, Falconry. (of a young hawk) being trained to fly freely but to return to a hack house or hack board for food rather than to pursue quarry.v.t.5. to place (something) on a hack, as for drying or feeding.6. Falconry. to train (a young hawk) by letting it fly freely and feeding it at a hack board or a hack house.[1565-75; var. of HATCH2]
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Universalium. 2010.
