1.
[syn: helping, portion, serving]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Help \Help\ (h[e^]lp), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Helped (h[e^]lpt)
(Obs. imp. Holp (h[=o]lp), p. p. Holpen (h[=o]l"p'n)); p.
pr. & vb. n. Helping.] [AS. helpan; akin to OS. helpan, D.
helpen, G. helfen, OHG. helfan, Icel. hj[=a]lpa, Sw. hjelpa,
Dan. hielpe, Goth. hilpan; cf. Lith. szelpti, and Skr. klp to
be fitting.]
1. To furnish with strength or means for the successful
performance of any action or the attainment of any object;
to aid; to assist; as, to help a man in his work; to help
one to remember; -- the following infinitive is commonly
used without to; as, "Help me scale yon balcony."
--Longfellow.
[1913 Webster]
2. To furnish with the means of deliverance from trouble; as,
to help one in distress; to help one out of prison. "God
help, poor souls, how idly do they talk!" --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. To furnish with relief, as in pain or disease; to be of
avail against; -- sometimes with of before a word
designating the pain or disease, and sometimes having such
a word for the direct object. "To help him of his
blindness." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The true calamus helps coughs. --Gerarde.
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4. To change for the better; to remedy.
[1913 Webster]
Cease to lament for what thou canst not help.
--Shak.
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5. To prevent; to hinder; as, the evil approaches, and who
can help it? --Swift.
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6. To forbear; to avoid.
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I can not help remarking the resemblance betwixt him
and our author. --Pope.
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7. To wait upon, as the guests at table, by carving and
passing food.
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To help forward, to assist in advancing.
To help off, to help to go or pass away, as time; to assist
in removing. --Locke.
To help on, to forward; to promote by aid.
To help out, to aid, as in delivering from a difficulty, or
to aid in completing a design or task.
[1913 Webster]
The god of learning and of light
Would want a god himself to help him out. --Swift.
To help over, to enable to surmount; as, to help one over
an obstacle.
To help to, to supply with; to furnish with; as, to help
one to soup.
To help up, to help (one) to get up; to assist in rising,
as after a fall, and the like. "A man is well holp up that
trusts to you." --Shak.
Syn: To aid; assist; succor; relieve; serve; support;
sustain; befriend.
Usage: To Help, Aid, Assist. These words all agree in
the idea of affording relief or support to a person
under difficulties. Help turns attention especially to
the source of relief. If I fall into a pit, I call for
help; and he who helps me out does it by an act of his
own. Aid turns attention to the other side, and
supposes co["o]peration on the part of him who is
relieved; as, he aided me in getting out of the pit; I
got out by the aid of a ladder which he brought.
Assist has a primary reference to relief afforded by a
person who "stands by" in order to relieve. It denotes
both help and aid. Thus, we say of a person who is
weak, I assisted him upstairs, or, he mounted the
stairs by my assistance. When help is used as a noun,
it points less distinctively and exclusively to the
source of relief, or, in other words, agrees more
closely with aid. Thus we say, I got out of a pit by
the help of my friend.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
helping \helping\ n.
1. a quantity of food served as part of a meal.
Syn: portion, serving.
[WordNet 1.5]
2. the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need
or furtherance of an effort or purpose.
Syn: aid, assistance, help.
[WordNet 1.5]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
helping
n 1: an individual quantity of food or drink taken as part of a
meal; "the helpings were all small"; "his portion was
larger than hers"; "there's enough for two servings each"
[syn: helping, portion, serving]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
77 Moby Thesaurus words for "helping":
accessory, adjuvant, allotment, allowance, ancillary, antepast,
assistant, assisting, attendant, attending, auxiliary, big end,
bigger half, bit, bite, budget, chunk, commission, contingent,
course, cover, cut, deal, dessert, destiny, dish, dividend, dole,
dollop, end, entree, entremets, equal share, fate, fostering, half,
halver, help, instrumental, interest, lot, measure, meed, menial,
mess, ministerial, ministering, ministrant, modicum, moiety,
nurtural, nutricial, part, percentage, piece, place, plate,
portion, proportion, quantum, quota, rake-off, ration,
second helping, segment, service, servile, serving, servitorial,
share, slice, small share, stake, stock, subservient, subsidiary,
waiting