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hack

An artist, writer, or performer who puts money or personal gain ahead of art is a hack. Your father could have been a great composer, but instead he became a hack, churning out financially lucrative commercial jingles.

The verb hack means to cough frequently. If you have a bad cold, you might sneak out of the theater rather than forcing the audience to listen to you hack through the whole movie. Another meaning of hack is to cut something away, like branches. When you're walking through dense jungle, you'll have to hack through the vines. The Old English root word is haccian, which means to cut into pieces.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: hack

1
 vn
cut away
a tool (as a hoe or pick or mattock) used for breaking up the surface of the soil
2
 v
fix a computer program piecemeal until it works
3
 v
significantly cut up a manuscript
4
 v
cough spasmodically
5
 v
be able to manage or manage successfully
6
 v
kick on the shins
7
 n
one who works hard at boring tasks
8
 n
a car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money
FULL DEFINITIONS OF: hack
1

v cut away

“he hacked his way through the forest”
Type of:
cut
separate with or as if with an instrument

v cut with a hacking tool

Synonyms:
chop
Types:
ax, axe
chop or split with an ax
Type of:
cut
separate with or as if with an instrument

n a tool (as a hoe or pick or mattock) used for breaking up the surface of the soil

Type of:
tool
an implement used in the practice of a vocation
2

v fix a computer program piecemeal until it works

“I'm not very good at hacking but I'll give it my best”
Synonyms:
hack on
Type of:
program, programme
write a computer program
3

v significantly cut up a manuscript

Synonyms:
cut up
Type of:
edit, redact
prepare for publication or presentation by correcting, revising, or adapting
4

v cough spasmodically

“The patient with emphysema is hacking all day”
Synonyms:
whoop
Type of:
cough
exhale abruptly, as when one has a chest cold or congestion
5

v be able to manage or manage successfully

“I can't hack it anymore”
Synonyms:
cut
Type of:
contend, cope, deal, get by, grapple, make do, make out, manage
come to terms with
6

v kick on the shins

Type of:
foul
commit a foul; break the rules

v kick on the arms

Type of:
foul
commit a foul; break the rules
7

n one who works hard at boring tasks

Synonyms:
drudge, hacker
Types:
plodder, slogger
someone who works slowly and monotonously for long hours
Type of:
unskilled person
a person who lacks technical training

n a politician who belongs to a small clique that controls a political party for private rather than public ends

Synonyms:
machine politician, political hack, ward-heeler
Type of:
pol, political leader, politician, politico
a person active in party politics

n a mediocre and disdained writer

Synonyms:
hack writer, literary hack
Type of:
author, writer
writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
8

n a car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money

Synonyms:
cab, taxi, taxicab
Types:
gypsy cab
a taxicab that cruises for customers although it is licensed only to respond to calls
minicab
a minicar used as a taxicab
Type of:
auto, automobile, car, machine, motorcar
a motor vehicle with four wheels; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine

n a horse kept for hire

Type of:
Equus caballus, horse
solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times

n a saddle horse used for transportation rather than sport etc.

Type of:
mount, riding horse, saddle horse
a lightweight horse kept for riding only

n an old or over-worked horse

Synonyms:
jade, nag, plug
Type of:
Equus caballus, horse
solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times
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