hacker
Syllables: hack·er/hækə/US/hækəɹ/
hacker noun: someone who hacks.
Noun (1)
hacker (plural hackers)
- Someone who hacks.
- A hacker hacked into his computer account yesterday.
- I'm a computer crook, the Willie Sutton of hackers. I break into computer systems for fun—and profit. To me, the Apple is the forbidden fruit.1986 April, Curtis Slepian, “The April Papers”, in R. Wayne Schmittberger, editor, Games, volume 10, number 4 (number 74 overall), New York, N.Y.: Playboy Enterprises, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 15
- One who cuts with heavy or rough blows.
- [O]ne good hacker, being a luſty labourer, vvill at good eaſe hacke or cut more then halfe an Acre of ground in a day; […]1625, Gervase Markham, “Of the Ordering, Tilling, and Dressing of All Sorts of Plaine Barren Clayes, whether They be Simple or Compounded”, in Markhams Farwell to Husbandry or, The Inriching of All...
- In January or February the "hacker," with his keen-bladed ax, begins the round which ends the season. […] His task is to cut the "boxes" in which the thick gum of the wounded tree will collect. A box is a wide incision about six inches deep, a wedge shaped cut in the tree, […] About a quart of sap...1895 January 18, Chicago Record, quotee, “Making turpentine: An extensive industry in certain southern states”, in Edward D. Baldwin, editor, The Newton Graphic, volume XXIII, number 14, Newton...
- One who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity, especially (sports, originally and chiefly golf), a sport such as golf or tennis.
- a tennis hacker
- And then Billy was a middle-aged optometrist again, playing hacker’s golf this time—on a blazing summer Sunday morning.1969 March 31, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., chapter 4, in Slaughterhouse-Five […] (A Seymour Lawrence Book), New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →OCLC, page 79
- One who is expert at programming and solving problems with a computer.
- The Electrical Engineering Department, J. McKenzie in particular, for allowing me to use the PDP-1 computer to do the extensive computations, draw graphs, and even type this thesis. In this connection Charles Landau did some of the programming, Luella Thompson did most of the typing, and W. B....1968 September, Rory [Jack] Thompson; Louis N[orberg] Howard, thesis supervisor, “Acknowledgments”, in Instabilities of Some Time-dependent Flows (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation), Cambridge, Mass....
- A hacker starts with nothing but a dream and a floppy disk and presently finds himself in a business that's doubled and trebled. Three "diskzines" – magazines on floppy disks – started cheaply by entrepreneurs who placed ads in obscure computer journals […]1984, Venture: For Entrepreneurial Business Owners and Investors, volume 6, part 1, New York, N.Y.: Venture Magazine, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 142
- One who applies a novel method, shortcut, skill, or trick to something to increase ease, efficiency, or productivity.
- food hacker
- growth hacker
- One who uses a computer to gain unauthorized access to data stored in, or to carry out malicious attacks on, computer networks or computer systems.
- a phone hacker
- Synonym of hackster (“a violent bully or ruffian; also, an assassin, a murderer”).
- Something that hacks; a device or tool for hacking; specifically, an axe used for cutting tree branches or wood.
- Thomas Limbrick, who was only nine years of age, said he lived with his mother when Deborah was beat: that his mother throwed her down all along with her hands; and then against a wall, and kicked her in the belly: that afterwards she picked her up, and beat her with the hacker on the side of the...1825, Andrew Knapp, William Baldwin, “Hannah Limbrick, Executed for Murder”, in The Newgate Calendar; […], volume III, London: J. Robins and Co., […], →OCLC, page 231, column 1
- When the dipping is thus over, the next work is to "chip" or scarify the tree immediately over the box, […] This is done by an instrument usually called a "hacker," sometimes "shave." Its form is somewhat like a "round shave," narrowing at the cutting place to the diameter of an inch, with a shank...1846 July, John Macleod, “The Tar and Turpentine Business of North Carolina”, in John S. Skinner, editor, The Monthly Journal of Agriculture, […], volume II, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Greeley &...
- A fork-shaped tool used to harvest root vegetables.
- The upper half of each swede-turnip had been eaten off by the live-stock, and it was the business of the two women to grab up the lower or earthy half of the root with a hooked fork called a hacker, that it might be eaten also.1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XLIII, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume III, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the fifth (The...
- Hack. […] To loosen the earth round potatoes, preparatory to earthing them up. This is done with a ‘tater-hacker,’ an old three-grained garden-fork, which by bending down the tines or ‘grains’ at right angles to the handle has been converted into something resembling a rake, but used as a hoe.1893, George Edward Dartnell, Edward Hungerford Goddard, “Hack”, in A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Wiltshire, London: […] [F]or the English Dialect Society by Henry Frowde, […], →OCLC...
Noun (2)
hacker (plural hackers)
- One who operates a taxicab; a cabdriver.
- Start runnin' for a streetcar and they open up with machine guns and bump two pedestrians, a hacker asleep in his cab, and an old scrubwoman on the second floor workin' a mop. And they miss the guy they're after.1938 January, Raymond Chandler, “Red Wind. Chapter 3.”, in Trouble is My Business, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, published May 1965, →OCLC, page 173
- Washington Hacker Charles A. Culp and his pet macaw parrot, Capt. Bligh, ran afoul of the law when a policeman charged Culp with failure to give full time and attention to driving, because he was tickling Capt. Bligh who has a perch in the cab.1965 January 24, “Bird costs cabbie $10”, in The Hartford Courant, daily edition, number CXXVIII, Hartford, Conn.: The Hartford Courant Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4A, columns 4–5
- Synonyms:
- cabbie, cabman, taxi driver
Verb
hacker (third-person singular simple present hackers, present participle hackering, simple past and past participle hackered)
- To speak with a spasmodic repetition of vocal sounds; to stammer, to stutter; also, to mumble and procrastinate in one's speech; to hem and haw.
- The interrupting of the Miniſter by the Clark, and the vvhole congregation, vvhen he readeth the Pſalms, by taking every other verſe out of his mouth, vvith an hackering confuſed noiſe, eſpecially in countrey Churches, vvhere the people cannot read vvell.1642, Lewes Hughes, “The Errors and Ungodliness of the Service Displaid and Laid Open, by Way of a Dialogue between a Countrey Gentleman, and a Minister of Gods Word”, in Certain Grievances, or The...
- Stammering, hackering—and so forth; it's shameful to relate! A soldier should be sound, brave, firm, decisive, true, honourable!1810, Alexander Vassiliavitch Suvorof, “Appendix No. II. Field Marshal Court Alexander Vassiliavitch Suvorof’s ‘Discourse under the Trigger;’ […]”, in Edward Daniel Clarke, Travels in Various...
Proper noun capitalized: Hacker
Hacker (countable and uncountable, plural Hackers)
- A surname.
hacker meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
hacker in Hindi
- one who uses a computer to gain unauthorized access to data stored in, or to carry out malicious attacks on, computer networks or computer systems
- हैकर haikar
hacker in Tamil
- கொந்தர், தாக்கி
hacker in Marathi
- one who uses a computer to gain unauthorized access to data stored in, or to carry out malicious attacks on, computer networks or computer systems
- हॅकर hĕkar
hacker in Urdu
- one who uses a computer to gain unauthorized access to data stored in, or to carry out malicious attacks on, computer networks or computer systems
- ہیکر haikar
More languagesFewer languages
- hacker in Bengali
- হ্যাকার hêkar
- hacker in Telugu
- హ్యాకర్
- hacker in Malayalam
- ഹാക്കർ, ഹാക്കർക്ക്
- hacker in Kannada
- ಕನ್ನಿಗ, ಮಿಂಕನ್ನಿಗ, ಕನ್ನಕೋರ, ಮಿಂಗಳ್ಳ
- hacker in Punjabi
- ਹੈਕਰ
- hacker in Gujarati
- હેકર
- hacker in Odia
- ହ୍ଯ଼ାକର୍, ହ୍ଯ଼ାକର, ହ୍ଯ଼ାକର୍ଙ୍କୁ
- hacker in Nepali
- ह्याकर, ह्याकरलाई
- hacker in Arabic
- هَاكِر hākir, مُخْتَرِق muḵtariq, قُرْصَان qurṣān
- hacker in Malay
- penggodam
- hacker in Indonesian
- peretas
- hacker in Persian
- هکر haker, رخنهگر rexne-gar
- hacker in Thai
- แฮ็กเกอร์ hɛ́k-gə̂ə
- hacker in Vietnamese
- hacker, tin tặc
- hacker in Myanmar
- ဟက်ကာ hakka
Examples of hacker in a sentence
- Typically, one hacker will annoy another; the offended party replies by launching a denial-of-service attack against the offender.2007, “Category 5—Illustrative Crosscutting Problem-focused Research Areas”, in Seymour E. Goodman, Herbert S. Lin, editors, Toward a Safer...
- In 2022, hackers leaked unreleased footage from its next iteration of GTA.2023 December 4, Ramishah Maruf, “GTA 6 leak: ‘Grand Theft Auto’ trailer reveals game’s release date”, in CNN Business, archived from the...
- In January or February the "hacker," with his keen-bladed ax, begins the round which ends the season. […] His task is to cut the "boxes" in which the thick gum of the wounded tree will collect.1895 January 18, Chicago Record, quotee, “Making turpentine: An extensive industry in certain southern states”, in Edward D. Baldwin...
- Nothing could have better exposed the vulnerability of the computer seeding than the spectacle of clay‐court experts looking like weekend hackers on grass.1979 July 2, “Reflection on the Seedings Fills Pause at Wimbledon”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 27 Feb 2024:
Synonyms of hacker
Forms of hacker
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hackers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hackers |
| present participle | hackering |
| past participle | hackered |
| past | hackered |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Hackers |
Origin of hacker
From Late Middle English hackere, hakker, hakkere (“one who cuts wood, woodchopper, woodcutter; (rare) tool for cutting wood”), from hakken, hacke (“to cut (something) with a chopping action, hack; to make a chopping action”) + -er(e) (suffix forming agent nouns). Hakken is derived from Old English *haccian (“to hack”), from Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn (“to chop, hack”), from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną (“to chop, hack”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“to be sharp; a handle; a hook; a peg”). The English word may be analysed as hack (“to chop or cut down in a rough manner”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).
Possibly from hack(ney cab) (“carriage pulled by a hackney horse, or motorized vehicle, available for public hire”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).
From hack (“(obsolete) to confuse or mangle (words) when speaking”) + -er (suffix forming frequentative verbs).
Words formed from hacker
Phrases with hacker
Words that rhyme with hacker
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about hacker
- What does hacker mean?
- Hacker means someone who hacks.
- What is hacker in Hindi?
- Hacker in Hindi is हैकर (haikar). See Hacker meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use hacker in a sentence?
- Typically, one hacker will annoy another; the offended party replies by launching a denial-of-service attack against the offender.
- What part of speech is hacker?
- Hacker can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce hacker?
- Hacker is pronounced /hækə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of hacker?
- The plural of hacker is hackers.
Words near hacker in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hacker (page history and authors); Hacker (page history and authors); hacker (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hacker (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hacker (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hacker (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hacker (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hacker (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hacker (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hacker (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hacker.wav.
Cite this entry: “hacker.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hacker. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.