hack
noun/hæk/
/hæk/
- (disapproving) a writer, especially of newspaper articles, who does a lot of low quality work and does not get paid muchTopics Literature and writingc2, TV, radio and newsc2
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- (disapproving) a person who does the hard and often boring work for an organization, especially a politician
- a party hack
- an ordinary horse or one that can be hired
- (North American English, informal) a taxi
- an act of hitting something, especially with a cutting tool
- I was sure he was going to take a hack at us.
- a piece of computer code that provides a quick solution to a problem by adding to the official function of a programTopics Computersc2
- (often in compounds) (informal) a strategy or technique that you use in order to manage an activity in a more efficient way
- Have you got any clever parenting hacks?
- Why not try these genius food hacks to save time?
Word Originnoun sense 5 Old English haccian ‘cut in pieces’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch hakken and German hacken. noun senses 1 to 4 Middle English (in sense (3) of the noun): abbreviation of hackney ‘horse or pony of a light breed’. Sense (1) of the noun dates from the late 17th cent.
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