I. hack 1 /hæk/ BrE AmE verb
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: haccian ]
1 . [intransitive and transitive] to cut something roughly or violently
hack (away) at something
She hacked away at the ice, trying to make a hole.
hack something off/down etc
Whole forests have been hacked down.
hack your way through/into something
He hacked his way through the undergrowth.
Both men had been hacked to death (=killed using large knives) .
2 . [intransitive and transitive] to secretly find a way of getting information from someone else’s computer or changing information on it
hack into
Somebody hacked into the company’s central database.
He managed to hack the code.
⇨ ↑ hacker
3 . can’t hack something informal to feel that you cannot continue to do something that is difficult or boring:
I’ve been doing this job for years, but I just can’t hack it any more.
4 . [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] British English to ride a horse along roads or through the country
5 . [intransitive] to cough in a loud unpleasant way
hack somebody off phrasal verb British English informal
to annoy someone:
His attitude really hacks me off!
II. hack 2 /hæk/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1700-1800 ; Origin: hackney 'horse for ordinary riding' ; ⇨ ↑ hackneyed ]
1 . a writer who does a lot of low-quality work, especially writing newspaper articles:
A Sunday newspaper hack uncovered the story.
2 . an unimportant politician:
The meeting was attended by the usual old party hacks.
3 . a way of using a computer to get into someone else’s computer system without their permission
4 . American English informal a taxi, or a taxi driver
5 . an act of hitting something roughly with a cutting tool:
One more hack and the branch was off.
6 . an old tired horse
7 . a horse you can pay money to ride on
8 . British English a ride on a horse:
a long hack across the fields
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ journalist someone who writes for a newspaper or magazine:
She worked as a journalist on the New York Times.
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I've always wanted to be a journalist.
▪ reporter someone whose job is to find out about news stories and ask questions for a newspaper, television or radio company etc:
A crowd of reporters were waiting outside the house all night.
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He told reporters that he had no intention of resigning.
▪ correspondent someone who writes news articles or does reports about a particular subject, especially a serious one, for a newspaper or news organization:
our economics correspondent
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a war correspondent
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He was the BBC's correspondent in Moscow.
▪ columnist someone who writes articles, especially about a particular subject, that appear regularly in a newspaper or magazine:
an influential financial columnist
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a gossip columnist
▪ hack informal a disapproving word for a journalist, especially one whose work is of low quality:
The editor sent one of his hacks to interview the murderer’s girlfriend.
▪ newsman/woman ( also newspaperman/woman ) a general word for someone who works for a newspaper, especially a reporter or editor:
an experienced newspaperman
▪ the press newspapers and journalists in general:
The press always like a good story about the royal family.
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the right-wing press
▪ Fleet Street the British press. This phrase comes from the street in London, where many newspapers used to have their offices:
Relations between the government and Fleet Street aren't as cosy as they once were.