HELP


Meaning of HELP in English

I. ˈhelp, ˈheu̇p, chiefly in southern US ˈhep verb

( helped -pt ; or now chiefly dialect holp ˈhō(l)p ; or holped -pt ; helped or now chiefly dialect holp or holped or hol·pen ˈhō(l)pən ; helping ; helps )

Etymology: Middle English helpen, from Old English helpan; akin to Old High German helfan to help, Old Norse hjalpa, Gothic hilpan, Lithuanian šelpti

transitive verb

1.

a. : to give assistance or support to : aid

agreed to help him with his biography — Ruth P. Randall

from the beginning she had helped and abetted him — Stuart Cloete

— often used interjectionally

Help! I'm drowning

b. : to assist in attaining

good pitching helped the team to the American league championship

2.

a. : remedy , cure , relieve

bright curtains help a drab room

aspirin helps a headache

humor often helps a tense situation

b. archaic : to rescue from harm or misfortune : save

help beer that beginneth to sour — Hugh Plat

help us from famine — Alfred Tennyson

c. : to get (oneself) out of a difficulty : extricate

sometimes I fought when I couldn't help myself — John Reed

3.

a. : to be of use to : benefit

a good speech should either amuse or help an audience

one-way sailing was helped by monsoons — Anne Dorrance

b. : to further the advancement of : promote

this dispute certainly did not help the negotiations — Theodore Hsi-En Chen

helping industrial development with two loans — Paul Bareau

4.

a. : to change for the better : mend

people get used to what they can't help quicker than they think they're going to — Mary Austin

b. : to keep oneself from : refrain from : avoid

neither of us could help laughing — Oscar Wilde

couldn't help seeing it was stuffed with newspaper clippings — James Hilton

c. : to keep from occurring : prevent

scolded him for something he couldn't help

d. : to be kept from : fail in

the campaign against industrial accidents cannot help producing results — F.D.Roosevelt

5.

a. : to dispense especially at a meal : serve

a loop of gold thread hung down from her sleeve as she helped the soup — Virginia Woolf

b. : to serve with food or drink especially at a meal — often used with to

helped his neighbor to the wine

helping himself … to a slice of beef — T.L.Peacock

6. : to appropriate for the use of (oneself)

the company had helped itself to a generous supply of bicycles — P.W.Thompson

intransitive verb

: to give aid or support : be of use : assist

to help rather than to blame — A.C.Benson

every little bit helps

— often used with a following infinitive

this principle may at least help to explain — A.O.Wolfers

Synonyms:

aid , assist : these three verbs are virtually interchangeable in meaning to furnish another person or thing with what is needed to fill an insufficiency or what is needed for the attainment of an end. help implies more frequently than the others, however, an advance toward an end

only money could help her through the worst of her ordeal — Marcia Davenport

help a team to win a game

will help to combat inflation

help a wounded soldier back to camp

aid often suggests the need of help or relief, often stressing weakness or insufficiency in the one aided and strength in the one aiding

his undergraduate work … was aided by tuition grants — Current Biography

a wide variety of literature … that will broaden their horizons and aid them to sound, democratic decisions — C.M.Wieting

to aid families in distress

assist usually stresses the secondary role of the one assisting or the subordinate character of the assistance

to assist visitors in finding places in hotels and auto courts — American Guide Series: Nevada

the president … is assisted by an 11-man cabinet — Americana Annual

Synonym: see in addition improve .

- cannot help but

- so help me

II. noun

( -s )

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German helfa, hilfa help, Old Norse hjalp help, Old English helpan to help

1.

a. : an act or instance of giving aid or support : assistance

offered his help in unloading the baggage

generous to all who needed help

making … decisions with the help of all significant facts — College & University Business

always tried to be of help

b. : the strength or resources employed in giving assistance

the help comprised food, clothing, and medicine — J.A.McVann

2.

a. : a useful adjunct : source of aid

printed helps to the memory — C.S.Braden

the singer is a help but he is not essential — Deems Taylor

b. : dealer help

3. : a possibility of preventing or curing : remedy

a situation for which there was no help

4.

a. : one who is in the pay or service of another:

(1) : assistant , ally

I could get you three or four rupees a month as my help — Attia S. Hosain

now if the help of Norfolk and myself … will but amount to five-and-twenty thousand — Shakespeare

(2) or plural help : a domestic worker or farmhand

I've … scrubbed the bathroom floor when the help has quit — Ethel Merman

hired help sat at table with the rest of the family — Sherwood Anderson

the two extra helps we always get in for the birthday — Ngaio Marsh

(3) plural help : an office or factory worker : employee

ran an ad in the help wanted column

one of the help in … government agencies — Antioch Review

b. : the services of a paid worker

they were without help again and she had all the work to do — Hamilton Basso

5. : helping

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.