hack

1. n. a taxi.

□ Go out to the street and see if you can get a hack.

□ I drove a hack for a few months; then I quit.

2. n. a cough.

□ That’s a nasty hack you’ve got there.

□ A hack like that can lead to pneumonia.

3. n. a professional writer who writes mediocre material to order.

□ This novel shows that even a hack can get something published these days.

□ That hack can’t even write her name!

4. n. a reporter.

□ She was a hack for the newspaper for a while.

□ Newspaper hacks have to know a little of everything.

5. tv. to write clumsy or inefficient computer programs.

□ I can hack a program for you, but it won’t be what you want.

□ Well, I can hack myself.

6. tv. to break into a computer electronically to steal data or corrupt it or for the challenge of breaking in.

□ Somebody hacked our system.

□ I’m gonna hack the bank’s computer because they bounced a check of mine.

7. tv. to annoy someone. (See also hacked (off).)

□ This really hacks me.

□ That kind of behavior hacks her a lot.

8. n. anyone who does poor or undesirable work.

□ Oh, he’s just a hack. What can you expect?

□ There’s always plenty of work for a hack.

9. n. a prison guard.

□ Watch out, man. The hacks are looking.