different between hack vs saw

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hæk/
• Rhymes: -æk

Etymology 1

From Middle English hacken, hakken, from Old English *haccian (“to hack”); attested in t?haccian (“to hack to pieces”), from Proto-Germanic *hakk?n? (“to chop; hoe; hew”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“to be sharp; peg; hook; handle”).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian häkje (“to hack”), West Frisian hakje (“to hack”), Dutch hakken (“to chop up; hack”), German hacken (“to chop; hack; hoe”), Danish hakke (“to chop”), Swedish hacka (“to hack; chop”), French hacher (“to chop”).

The computer senses date back to at least 1955 when it initially referred to creative problem solving. By 1963, the negative connotations of “black hat” or malicious hacking had become associated with telephone hacking (cf. phreaking).

Verb

hack (third-person singular simple present hacks, present participle hacking, simple past and past participle hacked)

1. (transitive) To chop or cut down in a rough manner. [circa 12th c.]
   • 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 6

     Among other things he found a sharp hunting knife, on the keen blade of which he immediately proceeded to cut his finger. Undaunted he continued his experiments, finding that he could hack and hew splinters of wood from the table and chairs with this new toy.

2. (intransitive) To cough noisily. [19th c.]

3. To withstand or put up with a difficult situation. [20th c.]
4. (computing) To make a quick code change to patch a computer program, often one that, while being effective, is inelegant or makes the program harder to maintain.

   Synonyms: frob, tweak

5. (computing) To accomplish a difficult programming task.

6. (computing, slang, transitive) To work with something on an intimately technical level.

7. (transitive, colloquial, by extension) To apply a trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method to something to increase productivity, efficiency or ease.

8. (transitive, slang, computing) To hack into; to gain unauthorized access to (a computer system, e.g., a website, or network) by manipulating code.

   Synonym: crack

9. (transitive, slang, computing, by extension) To gain unauthorised access to a computer or online account belonging to (a person or organisation).

10. (ice hockey) To strike an opponent's leg with one's hockey stick.

11. (ice hockey) To make a flailing attempt to hit the puck with a hockey stick.

12. (baseball) To swing at a pitched ball.

13. (soccer and rugby) To kick (a player) on the shins.
    • 2019, Barney Ronay, Liverpool’s waves of red fury and recklessness end in joyous bedlam (in The Guardian, 8 May 2019)[3]

      Barcelona had been harried and hurried and stretched thin by the midway point in the second half. Tackles flew in. Toes were crushed, shins barked, ankles hacked.

14. To strike in a frantic movement.
15. (transitive) To strike lightly as part of tapotement massage.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

hack (countable and uncountable, plural hacks)

1. A tool for chopping. [14th c.]
2. A hacking blow. [19th c.]
3. A gouge or notch made by such a blow.
4. A dry cough.
5. A hacking; a catch in speaking; a short, broken cough.
   • 1660, Henry More, An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness

     he speaks to this very question: which he does with so many hacks and hesitations

6. (figuratively) A try, an attempt. [19th c.]
7. (curling) The foothold traditionally cut into the ice from which the person who throws the rock pushes off for delivery.
8. (obsolete) A mattock or a miner's pickaxe.
9. (computing) An expedient, temporary solution, such as a small patch or change to code, meant to be replaced with a more elegant solution at a later date.
10. (computing) An interesting technical achievement, particularly in computer programming.
11. (colloquial) A trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method to increase productivity, efficiency or ease.

12. (computing, slang) An illegal attempt to gain access to a computer network.
13. (computing, slang) A video game or any computer software that has been altered from its original state.
    • 2014, Clara Fernández-Vara, Introduction to Game Analysis (page 165)

      […] found out a discarded sex mini-game in the code, and made it available again in the modified PC version of the game that they nicknamed “Hot Coffee.” This hack of the game created a controversy, since the inclusion of sexual content would change its age rating, […]

14. (slang, military) Time check.
15. (baseball) A swing of the bat at a pitched ball by the batter.

16. A kick on the shins in football.
    • 1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days.

17. (uncountable, slang, naval) Confinement of an officer to their stateroom as a punishment.
    • 2013, David Cauthen, When Destiny Comes to a Fork in the Road, p. 426:

      “Lieutenant Cauthen, you've got ten seconds to explain yourself before I put you in hack!”

18. (military, slang) An airplane of poor quality or in poor condition.
    • 1952, Air Reservist (page 6)

      Henebry's planes returned to Japan to reload, and early in the morning brought almost 3,000 more troopers to Korea […] Before sunrise next day, all troops in the maneuver had been picked up again and airlifted in “Henebry Hacks” back to Japan.

    • 1967, Christian Advocate (volume 47, page 292)

      […] so that he had to make the 300-mile journey in a “hack” plane which had spluttering engines, which did not conduce to an easy mind nor to a comfortable journey; […]

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:hack.

Synonyms

• (access attempt): crack
• (an illegal means to gain advantage): exploit
• (expedient, temporary solution): band-aid, contrivance, improvision, improvisation, kludge, makeshift, quick fix, patch
• (trick to increase productivity or efficiency): lifehack

Related terms

• marginal hacks

Translations

Etymology 2

Variations of hatch, heck.

Noun

hack (plural hacks)

1. (falconry) A board which the falcon's food is placed on; used by extension for the state of partial freedom in which they are kept before being trained.
2. A food-rack for cattle.
3. A rack used to dry something, such as bricks, fish, or cheese.
4. A grating in a mill race.

Verb

hack (third-person singular simple present hacks, present participle hacking, simple past and past participle hacked)

1. To lay (bricks) on a rack to dry.
2. (falconry) To keep (young hawks) in a state of partial freedom, before they are trained.

Etymology 3

Abbreviation of hackney (“an ordinary horse”), probably from place name Hackney

Noun

hack (plural hacks)

1. A horse for hire, especially one which is old and tired. [from 16th c.]
2. A person, often a journalist, hired to do routine work. [from 17th c.]

3. (derogatory) Someone who is available for hire; hireling, mercenary.
4. (slang) A taxicab (hackney cab) driver.
5. (now chiefly Canada, US, colloquial) A vehicle let for hire; originally, a hackney coach, now typically a taxicab. [from 17th c.]
6. A hearse.
   • 1920s, Jimmie Rodgers, Frankie and Johnny

     Bring out the rubber-tired buggie/Bring out the rubber-tired hack/I'm takin' my Johnny to the graveyard/But I ain't gonna bring him back

7. (derogatory, authorship) An untalented writer.

8. (derogatory) One who is professionally successful despite producing mediocre work. (Usually applied to persons in a creative field.)
9. (derogatory) A talented writer-for-hire, paid to put others' thoughts into felicitous language.
10. (politics) A political agitator. (slightly derogatory)
11. (obsolete) A writer who hires himself out for any sort of literary work; an overworked man; a drudge.
    • 1767, Oliver Goldsmith, Epitaph on Edward Purdon

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

12. (obsolete) A procuress.

Synonyms

• (A saddle horse which is old and tired): nag

Coordinate terms

• (worthless horse): bum

Translations

Verb

hack (third-person singular simple present hacks, present participle hacking, simple past and past participle hacked)

1. (dated) To make common or cliched; to vulgarise.
2. (equestrianism) To ride a horse at a regular pace; to ride on a road (as opposed to riding cross-country etc.).
3. (obsolete) To be exposed or offered or to common use for hire; to turn prostitute.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Hanmer to this entry?)

4. (obsolete) To live the life of a drudge or hack.
   • 1765, Oliver Goldsmith, The Double Transformation

     Poor madam , now condemn'd to hack
     The rest of life with anxious Jack

5. To use as a hack; to let out for hire.
6. To use frequently and indiscriminately, so as to render trite and commonplace.
   • 1865, John Henry Newman, An Internal Argument for Christianity

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

Etymology 4

From hackysack

Noun

hack (plural hacks)

1. A small ball usually made of woven cotton or suede and filled with rice, sand or some other filler, for use in hackeysack.

Translations

Verb

hack (third-person singular simple present hacks, present participle hacking, simple past and past participle hacked)

1. To play hackeysack.

Translations

Further reading

• hack on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• hack at OneLook Dictionary Search
• hack in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

References

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English hack.

Pronunciation

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /??k/
• Hyphenation: hack
• Rhymes: -?k
• Homophone: hek

Noun

hack m (plural hacks, diminutive hackje n)

1. hack (exploit; illegitimate attempt to gain access)

Related terms

• hacken
• hacker

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sô, IPA^(key): /s??/

  Homophones: (in some non-rhotic accents): soar, sore

• Rhymes: -??
• (US) enPR: sô, IPA^(key): /s?/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: sä, IPA^(key): /s??/

  (idiosyncratic, past tense of 'see') IPA^(key): /s??l/

Etymology 1

The noun from Middle English sawe, sawgh, from Old English saga, sagu (“saw”), from Proto-Germanic *sagô, *sag? (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Cognate with West Frisian seage (“saw”), Dutch zaag (“saw”), German Säge (“saw”), Danish sav (“saw”), Swedish såg (“saw”), Icelandic sög (“saw”), and through Indo-European, with Latin sec? (“cut”) and Italian sega (“saw”).

The verb from Middle English sawen, from the noun above.

Noun

saw (plural saws)

1. A tool with a toothed blade used for cutting hard substances, in particular wood or metal
2. A musical saw.
3. A sawtooth wave.

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: sa

Translations

Verb

saw (third-person singular simple present saws, present participle sawing, simple past sawed, past participle sawed or sawn)

1. (transitive) To cut (something) with a saw.

   They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

2. (intransitive) To make a motion back and forth similar to cutting something with a saw.

   The fiddler sawed away at his instrument.

3. (intransitive) To be cut with a saw.

   The timber saws smoothly.

4. (transitive) To form or produce (something) by cutting with a saw.

   to saw boards or planks (i.e. to saw logs or timber into boards or planks)

   to saw shingles; to saw out a panel

Derived terms

• saw gourds
• saw wood

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English sawe, from Old English sagu, saga (“story, tale, saying, statement, report, narrative, tradition”), from Proto-West Germanic *sag?, from Proto-Germanic *sag?, *sag? (“saying, story”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek?e-, *sk??-, from *sek?- (“to follow”). Cognate with Dutch sage (“saga”), German Sage (“legend, saga, tale, fable”), Danish sagn (“legend”), Norwegian soga (“story”), Icelandic saga (“story, tale, history”). More at saga, say. Doublet of saga.

Noun

saw (plural saws)

1. (obsolete) Something spoken; speech, discourse.

   • And for thy trew sawys, and I may lyve many wynters, there was never no knyght better rewardid […].

     And for your true discourses, and I may live many winters, there was never no knight better rewarded […].

2. A saying or proverb.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:saying

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II Scene VII, lines 152-5.

     And then the justice, / In fair round belly with good capon lined, / With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, / Full of wise saws and modern instances.

   • 1902, Charles Robert Ashbee, Masque of the Edwards of England, page 8.

     At his crowning […] the priest in his honour preached on the saw, 'Vox populi, vox Dei.'

   • 2017, Andrew Marantz, "Becoming Steve Bannon's Bannon", The New Yorker, Feb 13&20 ed.

     There’s an old saw about Washington, D.C., that staffers in their twenties know more about the minutiae of government than their bosses do.

3. (obsolete) Opinion, idea, belief.

4. (obsolete) Proposal, suggestion; possibility.
   • c. 1350-1400, unknown, The Erl of Toulous

     All they assentyd to the sawe; They thoght he spake reson and lawe.

5. (obsolete) Dictate; command; decree.
   • 1595, Edmund Spenser, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe

     [Love] rules the creatures by his powerful saw.

Derived terms

• soothsaw
• withsaw

Translations

Etymology 3

Verb

saw

1. simple past tense of see
2. (colloquial, nonstandard) past participle of see

Interjection

saw

1. (slang) What's up (either as a greeting or actual question).

Anagrams

• ASW, AWS, Was, aws, was

Atong (India)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s?aw/

Adjective

saw (Bengali script ???)

1. rotten

Khasi

Etymology

From Proto-Khasian *sa?w, an innovation of the Khasian branch. Cognate with Pnar soo.

Numeral

saw

1. four

Middle English

Noun

saw

1. saw
   • 1387', Ranulf Higden, John of Trevisa (translator), Polychronicon

     Þe more comoun sawe is þat Remus was i-slawe for he leep ouer þe newe walles of Rome.

     The more common opinion is that Remus was slain for he lept over the new walls of Rome.

Northern Kurdish

Noun

saw ?

1. terror
2. horror

Scots

Pronunciation

• (Doric and most Southern Scots dialects) IPA^(key): /sa/
• (Central and some Southern Scots dialects) IPA^(key): /s?/

Etymology 1

Verb

saw

1. (South Scots) simple past tense of sei
2. (Northern and Central) simple past tense of see

Etymology 2

Noun

saw (plural saws)

1. A salve.

Zhuang

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /?a???/
• Tone numbers: saw¹
• Hyphenation: saw

Etymology 1

From Proto-Tai *s??? (“writing; book”), from Middle Chinese ? (MC ???, “writing; book”). Cognate with Lao ?? (s??), Thai ??? (s???).

Alternative forms

• sw

Noun

saw (Sawndip forms ???? or ? or ???? or ????, old orthography s??)

1. written language; writing; script
2. (Chinese) character
3. word
4. book
5. teaching material
6. receipt; voucher

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Proto-Tai *sa?? (“clear; clean”). Cognate with Thai ?? (s?i), Northern Thai ??, Isan ??, Lao ?? (sai), Lü ?? (?ay), Tai Dam ??, Shan ??? (s?ue), Tai Nüa ??? (sáue), Ahom ???????? (saw) or ???????????? (sawu).

Adjective

saw (Sawndip forms ???? or ???? or ?, old orthography s??)

1. clean
2. (of transparent objects, water, etc.) clear
3. (of liquids other than water) watery; thin

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “from ??”)

Verb

saw (Sawndip forms ???? or ?, old orthography s??)

1. to lose