hack

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A writer who produces dull, low-quality work, often just for money.

   Critics dismissed him as a hack who churned out forgettable novels.

2. 2
   verb

   To cough repeatedly in a harsh, dry way.

   He hacked all night because of his bad cold.

3. 3
   noun

   A taxi, or its driver.

   We caught a hack outside the train station.

4. 4
   noun

   A horse kept for ordinary riding rather than racing or shows.

   She rented a gentle hack for a quiet ride through the countryside.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Hack meaning “cut with rough or heavy blows” goes back to ancient times. Its sense “cope” dates from the 1950s, while its computer sense “gain unauthorized access to systems or data” has been used since the 1980s; hacker appeared in the 1970s. The unrelated hack for a writer or journalist producing dull work originally meant a horse for ordinary riding, especially one hired out, and is a shortening of hackney, probably from Hackney in East London, where horses were once pastured. The associated idea of tiredness and overwork also contributed to hackneyed, meaning “overused, unoriginal, and trite.”

* As a German and Dutch surname, from the old Germanic name Hacco, shortened from names derived from *hakkju (“enclosure, hedge”). * Also as a German and Dutch surname, occupational surname for a butcher or woodcutter, see Hacker. * As a north/Low German surname, variant of Haack. * Also as a north/Low German surname, variant of Heck. * Also as a north/Low German surname for someone who lived by a marsh, from hach, hack (“boggy water”). * As an English surname, from the Middle English personal name Acke with a prosthetic H-, itself of North Germanic origin and a pet form of Old Norse Áskell, s…

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External links

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