hack
hack
verb (hacks, hacked, hacked, hacking)
/hæk/
1 ​transitive, intransitive to hit and cut somebody/something in a rough, heavy way
hack somebody/something + adv./prep. I hacked the dead branches off.
They were hacked to death as they tried to escape.
We had to hack our way through the jungle.
+ adv./prep. We hacked away at the bushes.
She hacked at the hedge with the shears.
The body had been hacked to pieces.
Collocations
adverb
awayoff
preposition
at
phrases
hack something to bitshack something to pieceshack somebody to death
2 ​transitive hack somebody/something + adv./prep. to kick something roughly or without control
He hacked the ball away.
​3 intransitive, transitive (computing) to secretly find a way of looking at and/or changing information on somebody else’s computer system without permission
hack into something He hacked into the bank's computer.
hack something They had hacked secret data.
Topics Computers B2
Topics Crime and punishment B2
​4 intransitive + adv./prep. (computing) to work together informally and often quickly with other people to create a program using different technologies
We spent the morning hacking around with HTML and building web pages.
Topics Computers C2
5 ​transitive can/can’t hack it (informal) to be able/not able to manage in a particular situation
Lots of people leave this job because they can't hack it.
​6 intransitive (usually go hacking) (especially British English) to ride a horse for pleasure
Topics Hobbies C2
7 ​intransitive (North American English, informal) to drive a taxi
Phrasal Verbs
hack off
e.g.
They were hacked to pieces, animals got to their corpses and scattered their remains. ばらばらに切り刻まれ獣に食い荒らされて散乱していた (/yupeco/『ゴールデンカムイ』2話)
hack
noun
/hæk/
1 ​(disapproving) a writer, especially of newspaper articles, who does a lot of low quality work and does not get paid much
Topics Literature and writing C2
Topics TV, radio and news C2
2 ​(disapproving) a person who does the hard and often boring work for an organization, especially a politician
a party hack
3 ​an ordinary horse or one that can be hired
4 ​(North American English, informal) a taxi
​5 an act of hitting something, especially with a cutting tool
I was sure he was going to take a hack at us.
​6 a piece of computer code that provides a quick solution to a problem by adding to the official function of a program
Topics Computers C2
7 (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?
compare lifehack
Word Origin
verb senses 1 to 4 Old English haccian ‘cut in pieces’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch hakken and German hacken. verb senses 5 to 6 Middle English: abbreviation of hackney ‘horse or pony of a light breed’.
noun 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.