12. (n.)hack a person, esp. a professional, who surrenders individual independence, integrity, belief, etc., in return for money or other reward: a political hack.
25. (adj.)hack hired as a hack; of a hired sort: a hack writer; hack work.
26. hack hackneyed; trite; banal: hack writing.
Etymology: (1680–90; short for hackney)
Definition of 'Hack'
Princeton's WordNet
1. (noun)hack, drudge, hacker one who works hard at boring tasks
2. (noun)machine politician, ward-heeler, political hack, hack a politician who belongs to a smallclique that controls a political party for private rather than public ends
3. (noun)hack, hack writer, literary hack a mediocre and disdained writer
2. (noun)Hack 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
3. (noun)Hack unburned brick or tile, stacked up for drying
6. (noun)Hack a hacking; a catch in speaking; a short, broken cough
7. (noun)Hack a kick on the shins
8. (noun)Hack 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
9. (noun)Hack a coach or carriage let for hire; particularly, a a coach with two seats inside facing each other; a hackney coach
10. (noun)Hack a bookmaker who hires himself out for any sort of literary work; an overworked man; a drudge
12. (verb)Hack to cut irregulary, without skill or definite purpose; to notch; to mangle by repeated strokes of a cutting instrument; as, to hack a post
14. (verb)Hack to cough faintly and frequently, or in a short, broken manner; as, a hacking cough
15. (verb)Hack to use as a hack; to let out for hire
16. (verb)Hack to use frequently and indiscriminately, so as to render trite and commonplace
17. (verb)Hack to be exposed or offered or to common use for hire; to turn prostitute
18. (verb)Hack to live the life of a drudge or hack
Definitions of 'Hack'
The New Hacker's Dictionary
1. Hack [very common]
1. n. Originally, a quick job
that produces what is needed, but not well.
2. n. An incredibly good, and
perhaps very time-consuming, piece of work that produces exactly what is
needed.
3. vt. To bear emotionally or
physically. “I can't hack this heat!”
4. vt. To work on something
(typically a program). In an immediate sense: “What are you
doing?” “I'm hacking TECO.” In a general
(time-extended) sense: “What do you do around here?” “I
hack TECO.” More generally, “I hackfoo” is roughly equivalent to
“foo is my majorinterest (or
project)”. “I hacksolid-state physics.” See
Hacking X for Y.
9. [MIT] v. To explore the
basements, roof ledges, and steam tunnels of a large, institutional
building, to the dismay of Physical Plant workers and (since this is
usually performed at educational institutions) the CampusPolice. This
activity has been found to be eerily similar to playingadventure games
such as Dungeons and Dragons and Zork. See also
vadding.
Constructions on this term abound. They include happy hacking (a farewell), how's hacking? (a friendlygreeting among
hackers) and hack, hack (a fairly
content-free but friendly comment, often used as a temporary farewell).
For more on this totipotent term see Meaning of ‘Hack’">The Meaning of Hack. See also neat hack,
real hack.