hacker

Etymology

From Middle English hakker, hackere, hakkere, equivalent to hack + -er.

noun

1. (computing) 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. Ackermann helped when the machine would not cooperate. Many other computer hackers also willingly offered advice. 1968 September, Rory Jack Thompson, “Acknowledgments”, in Louis N. Howard, editor, Instabilities of some time-dependent flows, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, archived from the original on 2015-09-23, page 107
   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, volume 6, part 1, page 142
   Hackers are people who simply love playing with computers 1990s, Joe Chidley, Maclean's Magazine
2. (computer security, telecommunications) One who uses a computer to gain unauthorized access to data, or to carry out malicious attacks.
   a phone hacker
   I'm a computer crook, the Willie Sutton of hackers. 1986 April, Curtis Slepian, “The April Papers”, in Games (magazine), page 15
   2007, Committee on Improving Cybersecurity Research in the United States, Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace Typically, one hacker will annoy another; the offended party replies by launching a denial-of-service attack against the offender.
3. (computer security) A computer security professional, a white-hat hacker.
4. (video games, slang) Someone who gains an unfair advantage in a video game by means of a disallowed modification to the game; a cheater.
   PUBG Mobile has seen more than its fair share of hackers, with Tencent banning millions of players every week for cheating. 27 June 2021, Wasif Ahmed, “Tencent banned over 3.8 million hackers in PUBG Mobile last week”, in Dot Esports, archived from the original on 2022-06-03
   Cheaters continue to plague Fortnite, as Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins and Jack 'CouRage' Dunlop have run into a hacker using fly-mode and aimbot, completely destroying and leaving both popular streamers speechless. 11 January 2022, Samed Kadirogullari, “Fortnite's Flying Hackers Leave Ninja & CouRage Speechless”, in Screen Rant, archived from the original on 2022-01-11
   The server is certainly not for everyone. Gamers need to be prepared to deal with many hackers, trolls, and griefers. However, those looking for a unique Minecraft experience might just find it on 2b2t. 9 March 2022, Edward Hays, “10 best Minecraft servers to play in 2022”, in Sportskeeda, archived from the original on 2022-12-05
   While a patch was rolled out that's given Diamond, Master, and Predator competitors protection against DDoSing, players still want Respawn to do more about the abundance of hackers. 30 January 2023, Alex Garton, “Apex Legends dev confirms even more anti-cheat improvements coming in Season 16”, in Dexerto, archived from the original on 2023-01-30
5. Something that hacks; a tool or device for hacking.
   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 head; wiped the blood off with a dish-clout, and took her up to bed after she was dead. 1825?, "Hannah Limbrick, Executed for Murder", in The Newgate Calendar: comprising interesting memoirs of the most notorious characters, page 231
   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, to be fixed securely into a strong, heavy handle of about two feet in length, while the faces of the trees are low, but the handle is made longer as years advance the faces higher. July 1846, John Macleod, "The Tar and Turpentine Business of North Carolina", on page 15 of the Monthly Journal of Agriculture, volume II, number 1
   23. George C. howard, Philadelphia, U.S. GRINDSTONE HACKER. Report.--Commended for the contrivance of an instrument, called a "hacker," that is used in trimming grindstones. This hacker turns with the stone, and is drawn across in a slide rest, and fulfills its important function satisfactorily. 1877, Reports and Awards of the United States Centennial Commission (regarding the) International Exhibition, 1876 (Francis A. Walker, editor), Reports on Awards, Group XXI, page 13
6. (UK, regional) A fork-shaped tool used to harvest root vegetables.
   The upper half of each turnip had been eaten off by the live-stock, and it was the business of the two women to grub 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 43, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles
   […] 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, A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Wiltshire, London: English Dialect Society, page 72
7. Someone who hacks.
   1. One who cuts with rough or heavy blows.
      In January or February the "hacker," with his keen-bladed ax, begins the round which ends the season. … About a quart of sap is taken from each box by means of the trowel-shaped scoop used by the dipper, and then the hacker comes along and starts the flow afresh by wounding the tree again. 1902, Our Wonderful Progress, Trumbull White (editor), page 623–624
   2. One who kicks wildly or roughly.
   3. One who is consistent and focuses on accomplishing a task or several tasks.
8. (US) One who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity, especially a sport such as golf or tennis.
   a tennis hacker
9. (US) One who operates a taxicab.
   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. 1939, Raymond Chandler, Trouble is my business
   Washington Hacker Charles A. Culp and his pet macaw parrot, Capt. Bligh, ran afoul of the law when a policeman charged Culp with.... January 24, 1965, “Bird Costs Cabbie $10”, in Hartford Courant
   "That's Brooklyn," the hacker said, his tone accusing. "I don't go to Brooklyn, mister. Anyways, I'm due at the garage." Nathan Shapiro is usually gentle with cab drivers. He was not, this hot afternoon of a fruitless day 1972, Richard Lockridge, Write murder down