The
Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) Dictionary [1], June 1959, by Peter R. Samson defines (comments in italics by PRS, 2005):
HACK: 1) something done without constructive end;
2) a project undertaken on bad self-advice;
3) an entropy booster;
4) to produce, or attempt to produce, a hack.
I saw this as a term for an unconventional or unorthodox application of technology, typically deprecated for engineering reasons. There was no specific suggestion of malicious intent (or of benevolence, either). Indeed, the era of this dictionary saw some "good hacks:" using a room-sized computer to play music, for instance; or, some would say, writing the dictionary itself. HACKER: one who hacks, or makes them.
A hacker avoids the standard solution. The hack is the basic concept; the hacker is defined in terms of it.----
[1] "An Abridged Dictionary of the TMRC Language", 1959: http://www.gricer.com/tmrc/dictionary1959.html
