Hacker - Nowadays the word hacker commmonly refers to a person who breaks into or 'hacks' into the secure computer systems of an organization, especially websites and online systems, using online connection, often just as a technical challenge, or potentially with intent to steal, destroy, vandalise information, websites, etc. Originally however the terms hack and hacker referred to a person who enjoyed exploring and experimenting - perfectly legitimately and legally - with computer code and related computing systems, out of curiosity or for purposes of technical challenge and improvement, discovery, etc. This is an example of how language and meanings evolve over time, particularly when a term becomes distorted for dramatic effect by mass media. Be aware in this case therefore, that some people - especially original 'old-school' hackers and computer code enthusiasts could be offended and unjustly maligned by the criminal implication of the common illicit hacking interpretation. Incidentally among coding enthusiasts the original technical term for a criminal 'hacker' was a 'cracker'. (Thanks to Vit Kavan, an 'old-school' hacker, for help in for clarifying this entry.)

Haggle - Negotiate with someone over the price of something until an agreeably mutual price is reached.

Hall Test - A term used when a group of people are gathered together at a particular location and asked to take part in market research.

Handbill - A small printed advertisement, usually on one sheet, often given out to people by hand.

Hands-Free - Term used when a telephone can be used without having to be held in the hand.

Hands-Off - A term often applied to managers who do not directly participate when dealing with a situation in the workplace by letting the people involved decide what they want to do.

Hard Selling - An aggressive type of selling which puts a lot of pressure on a prospective customer to buy a product or a service.

Harvesting - A term used when a product is still being sold, although it is no longer being invested in, prior to being withdrawn from the market.

Hashtag - A type of tag (here a prefix used with a word/term/reference/etc via electronic keypads, computing, smartphones, etc) in the social networking website Twitter and similar short messaging systems, so that a word preceded by the hash symbol (#) may be found subsequently or otherwise organized, analyzed, displayed, etc. The symbol is generally called the pound sign in the US, since it is used commonly instead of the traditional British £ symbol in referring to sterling currency.

Hawthorne Effect - Specifically the inclination of a group of workers to change their behaviour positively because they were being studied, irrespective of whether they were subjected to 'positive' or 'negative' conditions. First observed in studies by Elton Mayo at the Western Electric plant in Chicago, beginning 1928. The Hawthorne Effect basically established that attitude was more influenced by emotional rather than economic factors. See Hawthorne Effect summary.

Headhunt - To find a person who is specialised in a particular job, usually for a senior position in a company, and then persuade them to leave their present employment.

Health And Safety - Concerned with the protection of employees from risks and dangers in the workplace.

Health And Safety At Work Act - HSWA. In Britain, a 1974 act of Parliament which regulates and reinforces the health, safety and welfare of employees in the workplace.

Heatseeker - A person who, without fail, always buys the most up to date version of an existing product as soon as it comes onto the market.

Hedge Fund - A type of investment fund, which is unregulated and usually very high risk, used by individuals and organisations (not the general public) with large amounts of money to invest.

High Net Worth - Term which describes a rich individual or family who have investable assets of $1million or more, but this can vary. A person with more than $50million is classed as Ultra High Net Worth. (as at 2009)

Hire Purchase - HP. A contract between a buyer and seller in which the buyer takes possession of an item and then pays for it in regular instalments, usually monthly, and does not become the owner of the item until the final payment has been made. Also referred to as 'Buying on the never-never'.

Holding Company - A company which is formed for owning and holding controlling shares in other companies.

Hole in The Wall - An informal term for a cash dispensing machine, also called an ATM (automated teller machine).

Horizontal Sector - Often called simply a 'horizontal' - this refers to products/services which can be supplied to or 'across' a number of'vertical' sectors, for example, office cleaning services to various industries (verticals), or transport services to different industries (verticals).

Horizontal Integration - The joining together of businesses which produce similar goods or offer similar services, or are involved in the same stage of activities, such as production or selling.

Hot Desking - In an office, the practise of having a pool of desks, which are usually equipped with phone and computer links, so that workers can use them when they are required, rather than having their own individual desk.

Hothouse/Hothousing - Informal term for an intense development environment or method, or the verb equivalent, typically applied to training people or developing ideas or ventures; a metaphor alluding to a heated greenhouse for growing plants.

Human Resources - HR. The people who are employed by and operate a business or organisation. The department within a company which deals with recruitment, training, employee benefit, etc.

Hunt and Peck - Inexpert slow typing on a keyboard using only one or two fingers.

Hushmail - An internet service offering encypted email, file storage, etc.

Hush Money - A bribe or payment, which is often illegal, given to someone to stop them from disclosing information, usually to prevent bad publicity or to hide a crime.

Hyperbole - (Pronounced 'hy-per-bollee' - emphasis on the 'per' syllable) - Hyperbole is an extreme and figurative exaggeration or overstatement, which in strict grammatical terms is not generally expected to be taken seriously or interpreted literally, for example, "I've been waiting for ever for a bus," and yet where hyperbole is used for motivational or persuasive effect in business or politics, the technique very often intends to convey maximum impact on an audience, for example, "You'll never have another opportunity like this..." The word derives ultimately from the Greek root words: huper, over, and ballein, to throw.

Hyperinflation - An extraordinarily high rate of economic inflation during which a country's prices rise and currency loses its value uncontrollably in a vicious cycle, usually occurring during severe political instability or war. Normally inflation is measured in terms of a few percentage points increase per year - typically below 10% and sometimes approaching 20%. By contrast hyperinflation may be at a rates of tens of percentage points increase per month, and in extreme rare cases hundreds of percentage points per month. In this event, where prices can be doubling and currency values halving every few weeks (or days, in very rare situations), a country is forced to issue new banknote denominations of ludicrously high values, and within living memory news stories have featured workers collecting their wages in wheelbarrows.