Hack (hăk) noun [ See Hatch a half door.]
1. A frame or grating of various kinds; as, a frame for drying bricks, fish, or cheese; a rack for feeding cattle; a grating in a mill race, etc.

2. Unburned brick or tile, stacked up for drying.

Hack transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Hacked (hăkt); present participle & verbal noun Hacking .] [ Middle English hakken , Anglo-Saxon haccian ; akin to Dutch hakken , German hacken , Danish hakke , Swedish hacka , and perhaps to English hew . Confer Hew to cut, Haggle .]
1. To cut irregulary, without skill or definite purpose; to notch; to mangle by repeated strokes of a cutting instrument; as, to hack a post.

My sword hacked like a handsaw.

Shak.

2. Fig.: To mangle in speaking. Shak.

Hack intransitive verb To cough faintly and frequently, or in a short, broken manner; as, a hacking cough.

Hack noun
1. A notch; a cut. Shak.

2. An implement for cutting a notch; a large pick used in breaking stone.

3. A hacking; a catch in speaking; a short, broken cough. Dr. H. More.

4. (Football) A kick on the shins. T. Hughes.

Hack saw , a handsaw having a narrow blade stretched in an iron frame, for cutting metal.

Hack (hăk) noun [ Shortened from hackney . See Hackney .]

1. A horse, hackneyed or let out for common hire; also, a horse used in all kinds of work, or a saddle horse, as distinguished from hunting and carriage horses.

2. A coach or carriage let for hire; particularly, a coach with two seats inside facing each other; a hackney coach.

On horse, on foot, in hacks and gilded chariots.

Pope.

3. A bookmaker who hires himself out for any sort of literary work; an overworked man; a drudge.

Here lies poor Ned Purdon, from misery freed,
Who long was a bookseller's hack .

Goldsmith.

4. A procuress.

Hack adjective Hackneyed; hired; mercenary. Wakefield.

Hack writer , a hack; one who writes for hire. "A vulgar hack writer ." Macaulay.

Hack transitive verb
1. To use as a hack; to let out for hire.

2. To use frequently and indiscriminately, so as to render trite and commonplace.

The word "remarkable" has been so hacked of late.

J. H. Newman.

Hack intransitive verb
1. To be exposed or offered to common use for hire; to turn prostitute. Hanmer.

2. To live the life of a drudge or hack. Goldsmith.

Hack intransitive verb To ride or drive as one does with a hack horse; to ride at an ordinary pace, or over the roads, as distinguished from riding across country or in military fashion.

Hack transitive verb (Football) To kick the shins of (an opposing payer).

Hack noun (Football) A kick on the shins, or a cut from a kick.

Hackamore (-ȧ*mōr) noun [ Confer Spanish jaquima headstall of a halter.] A halter consisting of a long leather or rope strap and headstall, -- used for leading or tieing a pack animal. [ Western U. S.]

Hackberry (hăk"bĕr`rȳ) noun (Botany) A genus of trees ( Celtis ) related to the elm, but bearing drupes with scanty, but often edible, pulp. C. occidentalis is common in the Eastern United States. Gray.

Hackbolt (-bōlt`) noun (Zoology) The greater shearwater or hagdon. See Hagdon .

Hackbuss (-bŭs) noun Same as Hagbut .

Hackee (-ē) noun (Zoology) The chipmunk; also, the chickaree or red squirrel. [ U. S.]

Hacker (-ẽr) noun One who, or that which, hacks. Specifically: A cutting instrument for making notches; esp., one used for notching pine trees in collecting turpentine; a hack.

Hackery (-ȳ) noun [ Hind. chhakrā .] A cart with wooden wheels, drawn by bullocks. [ Bengal] Malcom.

Hackle (hăk"k'l) noun [ See Heckle , and confer Hatchel .]

1. A comb for dressing flax, raw silk, etc.; a hatchel.

2. Any flimsy substance unspun, as raw silk.

3. One of the peculiar, long, narrow feathers on the neck of fowls, most noticeable on the cock, -- often used in making artificial flies; hence, any feather so used.

4. An artificial fly for angling, made of feathers.

Hackle transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Hackled (-k'ld); present participle & verbal noun Hackling (-klĭng).]
1. To separate, as the coarse part of flax or hemp from the fine, by drawing it through the teeth of a hackle or hatchel.

2. To tear asunder; to break in pieces.

The other divisions of the kingdom being hackled and torn to pieces.

Burke.

Hackly (hăk"lȳ) adjective [ From Hackle .]
1. Rough or broken, as if hacked.

2. (Min.) Having fine, short, and sharp points on the surface; as, the hackly fracture of metallic iron.

Hackman (-m a n) noun ; plural Hackmen (-m e n). The driver of a hack or carriage for public hire.

Hackmatack (-mȧ*tăk`) noun [ Of American Indian origin.] (Botany) The American larch ( Larix Americana ), a coniferous tree with slender deciduous leaves; also, its heavy, close-grained timber. Called also tamarack .

Hackney (-nȳ) noun ; plural Hackneys (-nĭz). [ Middle English hakeney , hakenay ; confer French haquenée a pacing horse, an ambling nag, Old French also haguenée , Spanish hacanea , OSp. facanea , Dutch hakkenei , also Old French haque horse, Spanish haca , OSp. faca ; perhaps akin to English hack to cut, and nag , and orig. meaning, a jolting horse. Confer Hack a horse, Nag .]
1. A horse for riding or driving; a nag; a pony. Chaucer.

2. A horse or pony kept for hire.

3. A carriage kept for hire; a hack; a hackney coach.

4. A hired drudge; a hireling; a prostitute.

Hackney adjective Let out for hire; devoted to common use; hence, much used; trite; mean; as, hackney coaches; hackney authors. " Hackney tongue." Roscommon.

Hackney transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Hackneyed (-nĭd); present participle & verbal noun Hackneying .]
1. To devote to common or frequent use, as a horse or carriage; to wear out in common service; to make trite or commonplace; as, a hackneyed metaphor or quotation.

Had I so lavish of my presence been,
So common- hackneyed in the eyes of men.

Shak.

2. To carry in a hackney coach. Cowper.

Hackneyman (-măn) noun ; plural Hackneymen (-mĕn). A man who lets horses and carriages for hire.

Hackster (-stẽr) noun [ From Hack to cut.] A bully; a bravo; a ruffian; an assassin. [ Obsolete] Milton.

Hacqueton (hăk"ke*tŏn) noun Same as Acton . [ Obsolete]

Had (hăd) imperfect & past participle of Have . [ Middle English had , hafde , hefde , Anglo-Saxon hæfde .] See Have .

Had as lief , Had rather , Had better , Had as soon , etc., with a nominative and followed by the infinitive without to , are well established idiomatic forms. The original construction was that of the dative with forms of be , followed by the infinitive. See Had better , under Better .

And lever me is be pore and trewe.
[ And more agreeable to me it is to be poor and true.]

C. Mundi (Trans.).

Him had been lever to be syke.
[ To him it had been preferable to be sick.]

Fabian.

For him was lever have at his bed's head
Twenty bookes, clad in black or red, . . .
Than robes rich, or fithel, or gay sawtrie.

Chaucer.

Gradually the nominative was substituted for the dative, and had for the forms of be . During the process of transition, the nominative with was or were , and the dative with had , are found.

Poor lady, she were better love a dream.

Shak.

You were best hang yourself.

Beau. & Fl.

Me rather had my heart might feel your love
Than my unpleased eye see your courtesy.

Shak.

I hadde levere than my scherte,
That ye hadde rad his legende, as have I.

Chaucer.

I had as lief not be as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.

Shak.

I had rather be a dog and bay the moon,
Than such a Roman.

Shak.

I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Ps. lxxxiv. 10.

Hadder (hăd"dẽr) noun Heather; heath. [ Obsolete] Burton.

Haddie (-dĭ) noun (Zoology) The haddock. [ Scot.]

Haddock (-dŭk) noun [ Middle English hadok , haddok , of unknown origin; confer Ir. codog , Gael. adag , French hadot .] (Zoology) A marine food fish ( Melanogrammus æglefinus ), allied to the cod, inhabiting the northern coasts of Europe and America. It has a dark lateral line and a black spot on each side of the body, just back of the gills. Galled also haddie , and dickie .

Norway haddock , a marine edible fish ( Sebastes marinus ) of Northern Europe and America. See Rose fish .

Hade (hād) noun [ Confer Anglo-Saxon heald inclined, bowed down, German halde declivity.]
1. The descent of a hill. [ Obsolete]

2. (Mining) The inclination or deviation from the vertical of any mineral vein.

Hade intransitive verb (Mining) To deviate from the vertical; -- said of a vein, fault, or lode.

Hade noun (Geol. & Mining) The deviation of a fault plane from the vertical.

» The direction of the hade is the direction toward which the fault plane descends from an intersecting vertical line.

Hades (hā"dēz) noun [ Greek "a',dhs , "A'idhs ; 'a priv. + 'idei^n to see. Confer Un- , Wit .] The nether world (according to classical mythology, the abode of the shades, ruled over by Hades or Pluto); the invisible world; the grave.

And death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them.

Rev. xx. 13 (Rev. Ver.).

Neither was he left in Hades , nor did his flesh see corruption.

Acts ii. 31 (Rev. Ver.).

And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments.

Luke xvi. 23 (Rev. Ver.).

Hadj (hăj) noun [ Arabic hajj , from hajja to set out, walk, go on a pilgrimage.] The pilgrimage to Mecca, performed by Mohammedans.

Hadji (-ĭ) noun [ Arabic hājjī . See Hadj .]
1. A Mohammedan pilgrim to Mecca; -- used among Orientals as a respectful salutation or a title of honor. G. W. Curtis.

2. A Greek or Armenian who has visited the holy sepulcher at Jerusalem. Heyse.

Hadrosaurus (hăd`ro*sa"rŭs) noun [ New Latin , from Greek "adro`s thick + say^ros lizard.] (Paleon.) An American herbivorous dinosaur of great size, allied to the iguanodon. It is found in the Cretaceous formation.