|
hack [very common] 1. n. Originally, a quick job
that produces what is needed, but not well. 2. n. An incredibly good, and
perhaps very time-consuming, piece of work that produces exactly what is
needed. 3. vt. To bear emotionally or
physically. “I can't hack this heat!” 4. vt. To work on something
(typically a program). In an immediate sense: “What are you
doing?” “I'm hacking TECO.” In a general
(time-extended) sense: “What do you do around here?” “I
hack TECO.” More generally, “I hack foo” is roughly equivalent to
“foo is my major interest (or
project)”. “I hack solid-state physics.” See
Hacking X for Y. 5. vt. To pull a prank on. See
sense 2 and hacker (sense 5). 6. vi. To interact with a
computer in a playful and exploratory rather than goal-directed way.
“Whatcha up to?” “Oh, just hacking.” 7. n. Short for
hacker. 8. See nethack. 9. [MIT] v. To explore the
basements, roof ledges, and steam tunnels of a large, institutional
building, to the dismay of Physical Plant workers and (since this is
usually performed at educational institutions) the Campus Police. This
activity has been found to be eerily similar to playing adventure games
such as Dungeons and Dragons and Zork. See also
vadding. Constructions on this term abound. They include happy hacking (a farewell), how's hacking? (a friendly greeting among
hackers) and hack, hack (a fairly
content-free but friendly comment, often used as a temporary farewell).
For more on this totipotent term see
The Meaning of Hack. See also neat hack,
real hack.
| 
