See Also: hack(3)(dictionary)
hack(medicine)
hack(1)(dictionary)
hack(2)(dictionary)
hack(6)(dictionary)
hack(4)(dictionary)
hack(5)(dictionary)
hack 1, verb(dictionary)
Hack - Curling(gambling)
hack 2, noun(dictionary)

hack(2) (iou)



hack noun2 & adjective. [hak] Chiefly colloq. ME.
[Abbreviation of HACKNEY noun & adjective.]
A. noun.
A horse for ordinary riding. ME.
Illustrated London News Sir Charles Knightley..stuck to his road hack long after his neighbours had taken to post-horses.
b. A horse let out for hire; derog. a worn-out horse, a jade. E18.
The driver of a hackney carriage. L17-M19.
A person hired to do esp. dull or routine work, a drudge; esp. a writer of poor or average quality literary or (esp.) journalistic work; a writer or journalist who will take on any available work. L17.
C. Connolly There are no pensions for literary hacks. J. Critchley The cluster of hacks..notebooks in hand..ready to transmit their ramblings to the nation.
b. A prostitute. M18.
A vehicle plying for hire; a taxi. Now N. Amer. E18.
Anything that is hackneyed or made commonplace by frequent indiscriminate use. Cf. sense B.2. E18-E19.
Nautical. In full hack watch. A chronometer watch used on deck to take an astronomical sight for navigational purposes. M19.
b. attrib. or as adjective.
Of a person: employed as a hack; for hire. Of writing etc.: like that undertaken by a hack. M18.
B. Castle The hack journalists of the right-wing press must be desperate..to discredit Harold.
Commonplace; hackneyed; trite. L18.
Byron When the old world grows dull And we are sick of its hack sounds and sights.
Of or pertaining to a hack or taxi. E19.
Comb.: hackwork work, esp. literary work, (of a kind) which a person is hired to do; menial work.
hack'ette noun (colloq., somewhat derog.) a female journalist L20.