hack

To chop or cut down in a rough manner.

They hacked the brush down and made their way through the jungle.

To withstand or put up with a difficult situation.

Can you hack it out here with no electricity or running water?

To make a quick code change to patch a computer program, often one that, while being effective, is inelegant or makes the program harder to maintain.

I hacked in a fix for this bug, but we'll still have to do a real fix later.

To accomplish a difficult programming task.

He can hack like no one else and make the program work as expected.

slangTo work with something on an intimately technical level.

I'm currently hacking distributed garbage collection.

colloquialTo apply a trick, shortcut, skill, or novel method to something to increase productivity, efficiency or ease.

I read up on dating tips so I can hack my sex life.

slangTo hack into; to gain unauthorized access to (a computer system, e.g., a website, or network) by manipulating code.

slangTo gain unauthorized access to a computer or online account belonging to (a person or organisation).

When I logged in to the social network, I discovered I'd been hacked.

To lay (bricks) on a rack to dry.

To keep (young hawks) in a state of partial freedom, before they are trained.

datedTo make common or cliched; to vulgarise.

To ride a horse at a regular pace; to ride on a road (as opposed to riding cross-country etc.).

obsoleteTo live the life of a drudge or hack.

To use as a hack; to let out for hire.

To use frequently and indiscriminately, so as to render trite and commonplace.

To drive a hackney cab.

To cough noisily.

This cold is awful. I can't stop hacking.

To play hackeysack.

A tool for chopping.

A hacking blow.

A gouge or notch made by such a blow.

A try, an attempt.

The foothold traditionally cut into the ice from which the person who throws the rock pushes off for delivery.

obsoleteA mattock or a miner's pickaxe.

informalAn improvised device or solution to a problem.

Luckily for us J company picked us up in their hack – two snowmobiles with a big inflatable raft strapped between them.

slangAn expedient, temporary solution, such as a small patch or change to code, meant to be replaced with a more elegant solution at a later date; a workaround.

Valleysoft released a hack yesterday to fix the "crashes when more than 50 recipients" bug for people who need it right away. The company says its next release will also solve this as well as add new features.

A board upon which the falcon's food is placed; used by extension for the state of partial freedom in which they are kept before being trained.

A food-rack for cattle.

A rack used to dry something, such as bricks, fish, or cheese.

A grating in a mill race.

A horse for hire, especially one which is old and tired.

A person, often a journalist, hired to do routine work.

I got by on hack work for years before I finally published my novel.

derogatorySomeone who is available for hire; hireling, mercenary.

slangThe driver of a taxicab (hackney cab).

CanadaUScolloquialA vehicle let for hire; originally, a hackney cab, now typically a taxicab.

A hearse.

1920s, Jimmie Rodgers, Frankie and Johnny Bring out the rubber-tired buggie/Bring out the rubber-tired hack/I'm takin' my Johnny to the graveyard/But I ain't gonna bring him back

derogatoryAn untalented writer.

Dason is nothing but a two-bit hack.

derogatoryOne who is professionally successful despite producing mediocre work. (Usually applied to persons in a creative field.)

A dry cough.

A hacking; a catch in speaking; a short, broken cough.

A small ball usually made of woven cotton or suede and filled with rice, sand or some other filler, for use in hackeysack.

An onomatopoeia for coughing.