hacking

(noun, adjective, verb)

adjective

1. Short and interrupted, broken, jerky; hacky.

- A hacking cough. A hacking laugh. A hacking breath. A hacking cry.

- A more hacking and harrowing cough I have never heard.

- Anise will diminish the most hacking cough to where it is no longer irritating.

noun

1. (computing) Playful solving of technical work that requires deep understanding, especially of a computer system.

- From hacker: 'A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular.' — RFC 1392

2. (computing) Unauthorized attempts to bypass the security mechanisms of an information system or network. See also cracker.

3. (pathology) A dry coughing; the emission of a succession of short coughs.

4. (sports, chiefly American football, soccer, rugby) A kick in the shins.

5. (massage) The act of striking the muscles with the side of the hand.

6. (Britain, countable) A riding or journey on horseback. (Plural hackings.)

7. (obsolete) The operation of working over the faces of rough or worn grindstones with a hack-hammer.

8. (obsolete, masonry) The separation of a course of stones into two smaller courses, when there are not enough large stones to form a single course.

9. (obsolete, gem-cutting) The cuts and grooves made in the metal laps by holding the cutting edge of a steel blade against them while in motion, for the purpose of providing receptacles or pockets for the powders using in cutting and polishing gems.

10. (obsolete, brick-making) The piling of bricks for drying.

verb

1. present participle of hack