verb (used with object)
1.
to give or provide what is necessary to accomplish a task or satisfy a need; contribute strength or means to; render assistance to; cooperate effectively with; aid; assist: He planned to help me with my work. Let me help you with those packages.
2.
to save; rescue; succor: Help me, I'm falling!
3.
to make easier or less difficult; contribute to; facilitate: The exercise of restraint is certain to help the achievement of peace.
4.
to be useful or profitable to: Her quick mind helped her career.
5.
to refrain from; avoid (usually preceded by can or cannot ): He can't help doing it.
6.
to relieve or break the uniformity of: Small patches of bright color can help an otherwise dull interior.
7.
to relieve (someone) in need, sickness, pain, or distress.
9.
to serve food to at table (usually followed by to ): Help her to salad.
10.
to serve or wait on (a customer), as in a store.
verb (used without object)
11.
to give aid; be of service or advantage: Every little bit helps.
00:10
Help
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is lollygag. Does it mean:
| to spend time idly; loaf. |
| to flee; abscond: |
noun
12.
the act of helping; aid or assistance; relief or succor.
13.
a person or thing that helps: She certainly is a help in an emergency.
14.
a hired helper; employee.
15.
a body of such helpers.
16.
a domestic servant or a farm laborer.
interjection
Verb phrases 19.
(used as an exclamation to call for assistance or to attract attention.)
20.
Idioms help out, to assist in an effort; be of aid to: Her relatives helped out when she became ill.
21.
cannot/can't help but, to be unable to refrain from or avoid; be obliged to: Still, you can't help but admire her.
22.
help oneself to,
a.
to serve oneself; take a portion of: Help yourself to the cake.
b.
to take or use without asking permission; appropriate: They helped themselves to the farmer's apples. Help yourself to any of the books we're giving away.
23.
so help me, (used as a mild form of the oath “so help me God”) I am speaking the truth; on my honor: That's exactly what happened, so help me.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English helpen, Old English helpan; cognate with German helfen
before 900; Middle English helpen, Old English helpan; cognate with German helfen
Related forms
help·a·ble, adjective
un·der·help, noun
un·help·a·ble, adjective
un·helped, adjective
well-helped, adjective
Synonyms
1. encourage, befriend; support, second, uphold, back, abet. Help, aid, assist, succor agree in the idea of furnishing another with something needed, especially when the need comes at a particular time. Help implies furnishing anything that furthers one's efforts or relieves one's wants or necessities. Aid and assist somewhat more formal, imply especially a furthering or seconding of another's efforts. Aid implies a more active helping; assist implies less need and less help. To succor still more formal and literary, is to give timely help and relief in difficulty or distress: Succor him in his hour of need. 3. further, promote, foster. 6. ameliorate. 7. alleviate, cure, heal. 12. support, backing.
1. encourage, befriend; support, second, uphold, back, abet. Help, aid, assist, succor agree in the idea of furnishing another with something needed, especially when the need comes at a particular time. Help implies furnishing anything that furthers one's efforts or relieves one's wants or necessities. Aid and assist somewhat more formal, imply especially a furthering or seconding of another's efforts. Aid implies a more active helping; assist implies less need and less help. To succor still more formal and literary, is to give timely help and relief in difficulty or distress: Succor him in his hour of need. 3. further, promote, foster. 6. ameliorate. 7. alleviate, cure, heal. 12. support, backing.
Antonyms
3, 11. hinder. 7. afflict. 13. hindrance.
3, 11. hinder. 7. afflict. 13. hindrance.
Usage note
21. Help but, in sentences like She's so clever you can't help but admire her, has been condemned by some as the ungrammatical version of cannot help admiring her, but the idiom is common in all kinds of speech and writing and can only be characterized as standard.
21. Help but, in sentences like She's so clever you can't help but admire her, has been condemned by some as the ungrammatical version of cannot help admiring her, but the idiom is common in all kinds of speech and writing and can only be characterized as standard.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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|
Link To Help
Collins
World English Dictionary
help (hɛlp) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb (foll by to) | |
| 1. | to assist or aid (someone to do something), esp by sharing the work, cost, or burden of something: he helped his friend to escape; she helped him climb out of the boat |
| 2. | to alleviate the burden of (someone else) by giving assistance |
| 3. | (tr) to assist (a person) to go in a specified direction: help the old lady up from the chair |
| 4. | to promote or contribute to: to help the relief operations |
| 5. | to cause improvement in (a situation, person, etc): crying won't help |
| 6. | (tr; |
| a. to avoid or refrain from: we can't help wondering who he is | |
| b. ( | |
| 7. | to alleviate (an illness, etc) |
| 8. | (tr) to serve (a customer): can I help you, madam? |
| 9. | a. to serve (someone with food, etc) (usually in the phrase help oneself): may I help you to some more vegetables?; help yourself to peas |
| b. to provide (oneself with) without permission: he's been helping himself to money out of the petty cash | |
| 10. | cannot help but to be unable to do anything else except: I cannot help but laugh |
| 11. | help a person off with to assist a person in the removal of (clothes) |
| 12. | help a person on with to assist a person in the putting on of (clothes) |
| 13. | so help me |
| a. on my honour | |
| b. no matter what: so help me, I'll get revenge | |
| —n | |
| 14. | the act of helping, or being helped, or a person or thing that helps: she's a great help |
| 15. | a helping |
| 16. | a. a person hired for a job; employee, esp a farm worker or domestic servant |
| b. (functioning as singular) several employees collectively | |
| 17. | a means of remedy: there's no help for it |
| —interj | |
| 18. | used to ask for assistance |
| [Old English helpan; related to Old Norse hjalpa, Gothic hilpan, Old High German helfan] | |
| 'helpable | |
| —adj | |
| 'helper | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
help
O.E. helpan (class III strong verb; past tense healp, pp. holpen), from P.Gmc. *khelpanan (cf. O.N. hjalpa, O.Fris. helpa, Du. helpen, Ger. helfen), from PIE base *kelb-/*kelp- "to help" (cf. Lith. selpiu "to support, help"). Sense of "serve someone with food at table" (1688) is translated from Fr. servir
"to help, stead, avail," and led to helping "portion of food" (1824). Use of help as euphemism for "servant" is Amer.Eng., 1645, tied up in notions of class and race.
"A domestic servant of American birth, and without negro blood in his or her veins ... is not a servant, but a 'help.' 'Help wanted,' is the common heading of advertisements in the North, when servants are required." [Chas. Mackay, "Life and Liberty in America," 1859].The M.E. pp. holpen survives in biblical and U.S. dial. use.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary
HELP definition
1.
2. (Help Est un Lisp Paresseux - Help Is a Lazy Lisp). A lazy version of Scheme with strictness annotations, by Thomas Schiex
American Heritage
Abbreviations & Acronyms
| HELP Health Education Library for People |
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases
help
In addition to the idioms beginning with help, also see can't help but; every little bit helps; not if one can help it; so help me.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Example sentences
There are times when without the help of humans introducing species that other species overtake the home range of other animals.
Biological filters, which combine mechanical and bacterial filtration, help.
Sometimes being a leader means knowing when to ask for help.
For general help questions, please use our help form.
Idioms & Phrases
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