hack

Plural: hacks

Noun

• one who works hard at boring tasks
• a politician who belongs to a small clique that controls a political party for private rather than public ends
• a mediocre and disdained writer
• a tool (as a hoe or pick or mattock) used for breaking up the surface of the soil
• a car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money
• an old or over-worked horse
• a horse kept for hire
• a saddle horse used for transportation rather than sport etc.
• A tool for chopping.
• A hacking blow.
• A gouge or notch made by such a blow.
• A try, an attempt.
• The foothold traditionally cut into the ice from which the person who throws the rock pushes off for delivery.
• A mattock or a miner's pickaxe.
• An improvised device or solution to a problem.
• 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.
• A computer programmer who makes quick but inelegant changes to computer code to solve problems or add features.
• A computer programmer, particularly a veteran or someone not immediately expected to be capable of programming.
• An interesting technical achievement, particularly in computer programming.
• A trick, shortcut, skill, or novel method to increase productivity, efficiency, or ease.
• The illegal accessing of a computer network.
• A video game or any computer software that has been altered from its original state.
• A practical joke that showcases cleverness and creativity.
• Time check, as for example upon synchronization of wristwatches.
• 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.
• 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.
• A kick on the shins in football of any type.
• Confinement of an officer to their stateroom as a punishment.
• An airplane of poor quality or in poor condition.
• 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.
• A food-rack for cattle.
• A rack used to dry something, such as bricks, fish, or cheese.
• A grating in a mill race.
• A horse for hire, especially one which is old and tired.
• A person, often a journalist, hired to do routine work.
• Someone who is available for hire; hireling, mercenary.
• The driver of a taxicab (hackney cab).
• A vehicle let for hire; originally, a hackney cab, now typically a taxicab.
• A hearse.
• An untalented writer.
• One who is professionally successful despite producing mediocre work. (Usually applied to persons in a creative field.)
• A talented writer-for-hire, paid to put others' thoughts into felicitous language.
• A political agitator.
• A person who frequently canvasses for votes, either directly or by appearing to continuously act with the ulterior motive of furthering their political career.
• A writer who hires himself out for any sort of literary work; an overworked man; a drudge.
• A procuress.
• A dry cough.
• A hacking; a catch in speaking; a short, broken cough.
• A small ball usually made of woven cotton or suede and filled with rice, sand or some other filler, for use in hackeysack.

Verb

Verb Forms: hacked, hacking, hacks

• To cut or chop roughly and irregularly with heavy blows.
• cut with a hacking tool
• be able to manage or manage successfully
  • "I can't hack it anymore"
• cut away
  • "he hacked his way through the forest"
• kick on the arms
• kick on the shins
• fix a computer program piecemeal until it works
  • "I'm not very good at hacking but I'll give it my best"
• significantly cut up a manuscript
• cough spasmodically
  • "The patient with emphysema is hacking all day"
• To chop or cut down in a rough manner.
• To withstand or put up with a difficult situation.
• 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.
• To accomplish a difficult programming task.
• To work with something on an intimately technical level.
• To apply a trick, shortcut, skill, or novel method to something to increase productivity, efficiency or ease.
• To hack into; to gain unauthorized access to (a computer system, e.g., a website, or network) by manipulating code.
• To gain unauthorised access to a computer or online account belonging to (a person or organisation).
• To cheat by using unauthorized modifications.
• To strike an opponent with one's hockey stick, typically on the leg but occasionally and more seriously on the back, arm, head, etc.
• To make a flailing attempt to hit the puck with a hockey stick.
• To swing at a pitched ball.
• To kick (a player) on the shins.
• To strike in a frantic movement.
• To strike lightly as part of tapotement massage.
• To lay (bricks) on a rack to dry.
• To keep (young hawks) in a state of partial freedom, before they are trained.
• To make common or cliched; to vulgarise.
• To ride a horse at a regular pace; to ride on a road (as opposed to riding cross-country etc.).
• To live the life of a drudge or hack.
• To use as a hack; to let out for hire.
• To use frequently and indiscriminately, so as to render trite and commonplace.
• To drive a hackney cab.
• To cough noisily.
• To play hackeysack.

Intj

• An onomatopoeia for coughing.

Examples

• And Melnick goes down with one last hack at an O'Malley fastball.
• Can you hack it out here with no electricity or running water?
• Dason is nothing but a two-bit hack.
• Flugensoft came out with a neat hack last week that allows your watch to warm up your car if it's below freezing outside.
• He can hack like no one else and make the program work as expected.
• He went to the batter's box hacking.
• He's going to the penalty box after hacking the defender in front of the goal.
• He's nothing but the typical hack writer.
• I got by on hack work for years before I finally published my novel.
• I hacked in a fix for this bug, but we'll still have to do a real fix later.
• I read up on dating tips so I can hack my sex life.
• I'm currently hacking distributed garbage collection.
• Jensen gets a 5 minute major penalty for hacking Orsov in the back.
• Luckily for us J company picked us up in their hack — two snowmobiles with a big inflatable raft strapped between them.
• Putting your phone in a sandwich bag when you go to the beach is such a great hack.
• Some players try to HACK together words, but a skilled player crafts them with precision.
• Terry wrote that module? I didn't know she was a hack too!
• That player must be hacking, they got so many kills last game.
• There's a scramble in front of the net as the forwards are hacking at the bouncing puck.
• They hacked the brush down and made their way through the jungle.
• This cold is awful. I can't stop hacking.
• Tsang is great but Zhou is such a hack — I wouldn't want him on my project.
• 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.
• Wales are awarded a free kick after a minor hack by Järvinen on Llewellyn.
• When I logged in to the social network, I discovered I'd been hacked.
• Zersky is still down after that nasty hack by Lenner.

Synonyms

cab, chop, cut, cut up, drudge, hack on, hack writer, hacker, jade, literary hack, machine politician, nag, plug, political hack, taxi, taxicab, ward-heeler, whoop, band-aid, bodge, contrivance, crack, exploit, frob, improvisation, improvision, kludge, lifehack, makeshift, patch, quick fix, tweak

Anagrams of hack