Dictionary
hack
Pronunciation: (hak), [key]—
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.
1. to make rough cuts or notches; deal cutting blows.
2. to cough harshly, usually in short and repeated spasms.
3. Tennis.
a. to take a poor, ineffective, or awkward swing at the ball.
b. to play tennis at a mediocre level.
4. Brit.to kick or kick at an opponent's shins in Rugby football.
5. hack around, Slang.to pass the time idly; indulge in idle talk.
6. 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.
1. a cut, gash, or notch.
2. a tool, as an ax, hoe, or pick, for hacking.
3. an act or instance of hacking; a cutting blow.
4. a short, rasping dry cough.
5. a hesitation in speech.
6. Curling.an indentation made in the ice at the foot score, for supporting the foot in delivering the stone.
7. Brit.a gash in the skin produced by a kick, as in Rugby football.
hack
Pronunciation: (hak), [key]—
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.
1. to make a hack of; let out for hire.
2. to make trite or stale by frequent use; hackney.
—
v.i.
1. Informal.to drive a taxi.
2. to ride or drive on the road at an ordinary pace, as distinguished from cross-country riding or racing.
3. Brit.to rent a horse, esp. by the hour.
—
adj.
1. hired as a hack; of a hired sort:
a hack writer; hack work.
2. hackneyed; trite; banal:
hack writing. hack
Pronunciation: (hak), [key]—
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.
1. to place (something) on a hack, as for drying or feeding.
2. Falconry.to train (a young hawk) by letting it fly freely and feeding it at a hack board or a hack house.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
