The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Exploit \Ex*ploit"\, n. [OE. esploit success, OF. esploit,
   espleit,revenue, product, vigor, force, exploit, F. exploit
   exploit, fr. L. explicitum, prop. p. p. neut. of explicare to
   unfold, display, exhibit; ex + plicare to fold. See Ply,
   and cf. Explicit, Explicate.]
   1. A deed or act; especially, a heroic act; a deed of renown;
      an adventurous or noble achievement; as, the exploits of
      Alexander the Great.
      [1913 Webster]

            Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Combat; war. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            He made haste to exploit some warlike service.
                                                  --Holland.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. [F. exploiter.] To utilize; to make available; to get the
      value or usefulness out of; as, to exploit a mine or
      agricultural lands; to exploit public opinion. [Recent]
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Hence: To draw an illegitimate profit from; to speculate
      on; to put upon. [Recent]
      [1913 Webster]

            In no sense whatever does a man who accumulates a
            fortune by legitimate industry exploit his
            employ['e]s or make his capital "out of" anybody
            else.                                 --W. G.
                                                  Sumner.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

exploit
    n 1: a notable achievement; "he performed a great feat"; "the
         book was her finest effort" [syn: feat, effort,
         exploit]
    v 1: use or manipulate to one's advantage; "He exploit the new
         taxation system"; "She knows how to work the system"; "he
         works his parents for sympathy" [syn: exploit, work]
    2: draw from; make good use of; "we must exploit the resources
       we are given wisely" [syn: exploit, tap]
    3: work excessively hard; "he is exploiting the students" [syn:
       overwork, exploit]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

111 Moby Thesaurus words for "exploit":
   abuse, accomplished fact, accomplishment, achievement, act, acta,
   action, adventure, apply, aristeia, attainment, beguile,
   benefit from, bestow, bleed, bleed white, blow, bold stroke,
   capitalize on, cash in on, clip, coup, cultivate, dealings, deed,
   do, doing, doings, drain, effort, employ, emprise, endeavor,
   enterprise, exercise, fait accompli, feat, finesse, fleece, gest,
   go, gouge, hand, handiwork, handle, heroic act, hold up, ill-use,
   impose, impose upon, improve, improve the occasion, job, jockey,
   make capital of, make hay, make use of, maneuver, manipulate,
   measure, milk, misuse, move, operation, overcharge, overprice,
   overt act, overtax, passage, performance, play, play on,
   presume upon, proceeding, production, profit by, profiteer,
   put to advantage, res gestae, screw, skin, soak, step, stick,
   sting, stroke, stunt, suck dry, surcharge, swindle,
   take advantage of, thing, thing done, tour de force, trade on,
   transaction, turn, turn to account, turn to profit, turn to use,
   undertaking, use, use ill, use to advantage, utilize, venture,
   victimize, work, work on, work upon, works



The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

exploit
 n.

    [originally cracker slang]

    1. A vulnerability in software that can be used for breaking security or
    otherwise attacking an Internet host over the network. The Ping O' Death
    is a famous exploit.

    2. More grammatically, a program that exploits an exploit in sense 1.


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

exploit

    A security vulnerability or an instance of taking
   advantage of a security vulnerability.

   "[...] hackers say exploit. sysadmins say hole"
   -- Mike Emke (http://emke.com/).

   (2014-10-25)