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2058 entries found
hack (v.3)
"to cough with a short, dry cough," 1802, perhaps from hack (v.1) on the notion of being done with difficulty, or else imitative.
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hackamore (n.)
halter chiefly used for breaking horses, 1850, American English, of uncertain origin. OED and Klein suggests a corruption of Spanish jaquima (earlier xaquima) "halter, headstall of a horse," which Klein suggests is from Arabic shakimah "bit of a bridle, curb, restraint."
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hacker (n.)
early 13c. (as a surname), "a chopper, cutter," perhaps also "one who makes hacking tools," agent noun from hack (v.1).

Meaning "one who gains unauthorized access to computer records" is attested by 1975, and this sense seems to suggest hack (v.1), but the computer use is said to be from slightly earlier tech slang sense of "one who works like a hack at writing and experimenting with software, one who enjoys computer programming for its own sake," reputedly a usage that evolved at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (however an MIT student from the late 1960s recalls hack (n.) being used then and there in the general sense of "creative prank." This suggests rather a connection with hack (n.2) via the notion of "plodding, routine work." There may be a convergence of both words here.
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hackle (n.)
Old English hacele "coat, cloak, vestment, mantle" (cognate with Old High German hachul, Gothic hakuls "cloak;" Old Norse hekla "hooded frock"), of uncertain origin. The same word with a sense of "bird plumage" is first recorded early 15c., though this might be from unrelated Middle English hackle "flax comb" (see heckle (n.)) on supposed resemblance of comb to ruffled feathers, or from an unrecorded continental Germanic word. Metaphoric extension found in phrases such as raise (one's) hackles (as a cock does when angry) is by 1881.
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hackney (n.)
"small saddle horse let out for hire," c. 1300, from place name Hackney (late 12c.), Old English Hacan ieg "Haca's Isle" (or possibly "Hook Island"), the "isle" element here meaning dry land in a marsh. Now well within London, it once was pastoral and horses apparently were kept there. Hence the use for riding horses, with subsequent deterioration of sense (see hack (n.2)). Old French haquenée "ambling nag" is an English loan-word.
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hackneyed (adj.)
"trite, so overused as to have become uninteresting," 1749, figurative use of past-participle adjective from hackney (v.) "use a horse for riding" (1570s), hence "make common by indiscriminate use" (1590s), from hackney (n.), and compare hack (n.2) in its specialized sense of "one who writes anything for hire." From 1769 as "kept for hire."
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hacksaw (n.)
1867, from hack (v.1) + saw (n.1) "toothed cutting tool."
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had 
past tense and past participle of have, from Old English gehæfd. Assimilation of -f- to a following consonant is typical (as also in woman, lord, lady, head (n.), leman). Used since late Old English as an auxiliary to make pluperfect tense-phrases. You never had it so good (1946) was said to be the stock answer to any complaints about U.S. Army life.
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haddock (n.)
North Atlantic food fish of the cod family, late 13c., of unknown origin. Old French hadot and Gaelic adag, sometimes cited as sources, apparently were borrowed from English. OED regards the suffix as perhaps a diminutive.
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hade (n.)
"person; state, condition," Old English had "person, individual, character, individuality; condition, state, nature; sex, race, family, tribe;" see -hood. Obsolete after 14c. Cognate with Old Saxon hed "condition, rank, Old Norse heiðr "honor, dignity," Old High German heit, Gothic haidus "way, manner."
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