[syn: avail, help]
8. improve; change for the better;
- Example: "New slipcovers will help the old living room furniture"
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.
[1913 Webster]
4. To change for the better; to remedy.
[1913 Webster]
Cease to lament for what thou canst not help.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
5. To prevent; to hinder; as, the evil approaches, and who
can help it? --Swift.
[1913 Webster]
6. To forbear; to avoid.
[1913 Webster]
I can not help remarking the resemblance betwixt him
and our author. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
7. To wait upon, as the guests at table, by carving and
passing food.
[1913 Webster]
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:
Help \Help\, n. [AS. help; akin to D. hulp, G. h["u]lfe, hilfe,
Icel. hj[=a]lp, Sw. hjelp, Dan. hielp. See Help, v. t.]
[1913 Webster]
1. Strength or means furnished toward promoting an object, or
deliverance from difficulty or distress; aid; ^; also, the
person or thing furnishing the aid; as, he gave me a help
of fifty dollars.
[1913 Webster]
Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of
man. --Ps. lx. 11.
[1913 Webster]
God is . . . a very present help in trouble. --Ps.
xlvi. 1.
[1913 Webster]
Virtue is a friend and a help to nature. --South.
[1913 Webster]
2. Remedy; relief; as, there is no help for it.
[1913 Webster]
3. A helper; one hired to help another; also, thew hole force
of hired helpers in any business.
[1913 Webster]
4. Specifically, a domestic servant, man or woman. [Local, U.
S.]
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Help \Help\, v. i.
To lend aid or assistance; to contribute strength or means;
to avail or be of use; to assist.
[1913 Webster]
A generous present helps to persuade, as well as an
agreeable person. --Garth.
[1913 Webster]
To help out, to lend aid; to bring a supply.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
help
n 1: the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need
or furtherance of an effort or purpose; "he gave me an
assist with the housework"; "could not walk without
assistance"; "rescue party went to their aid"; "offered his
help in unloading" [syn: aid, assist, assistance,
help]
2: a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or
furtherance of an effort or purpose; "my invaluable
assistant"; "they hired additional help to finish the work"
[syn: assistant, helper, help, supporter]
3: a resource; "visual aids in teaching" [syn: aid,
assistance, help]
4: a means of serving; "of no avail"; "there's no help for it"
[syn: avail, help, service]
v 1: give help or assistance; be of service; "Everyone helped
out during the earthquake"; "Can you help me carry this
table?"; "She never helps around the house" [syn: help,
assist, aid]
2: improve the condition of; "These pills will help the patient"
[syn: help, aid]
3: be of use; "This will help to prevent accidents" [syn:
help, facilitate]
4: abstain from doing; always used with a negative; "I can't
help myself--I have to smoke"; "She could not help watching
the sad spectacle" [syn: help oneself, help]
5: help to some food; help with food or drink; "I served him
three times, and after that he helped himself" [syn: serve,
help]
6: contribute to the furtherance of; "This money will help the
development of literacy in developing countries"
7: take or use; "She helped herself to some of the office
supplies" [syn: avail, help]
8: improve; change for the better; "New slipcovers will help the
old living room furniture"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
309 Moby Thesaurus words for "help":
Samaritan, abet, acolyte, adjutant, administer to, advance,
advantage, advise, agent, aid, aide, aide-de-camp, aider, alimony,
alleviate, allotment, allowance, alterative, ameliorate, amend,
analeptic, ancilla, annuity, antepast, anticipate, appropriate,
arrogate, assist, assistance, assistant, assistants, assister,
attend, attend on, attendant, auxiliary, avail, avert, avoid, back,
backer, bail out, balm, balsam, bar, bear a hand, befriend,
befriender, benefactor, benefactress, benefit, benefiter, best man,
better, bolster, boost, bounty, break no bones, care for, champion,
chore, clear the way, coadjutant, coadjutor, coadjutress,
coadjutrix, comfort, commandeer, confer a benefit, cooperation,
corrective, course, cover, crew, cure, dance attendance upon,
debar, deflect, depletion allowance, deputy, dessert, deter,
discourage, dish, dishearten, do a favor, do a kindness, do for,
do good, do no harm, do service to, doctor, dole, domestic,
domestic servant, domestics, drudge, ease, employees, entree,
entremets, escape, eschew, estop, exclude, executive officer,
expedite, explain, expropriate, facilitate, favor, fellowship,
fend, fend off, finance, financial assistance, forbear, forbid,
force, foreclose, forestall, forward, fund, further, gang,
give a boost, give a hand, give a lift, give help, good Samaritan,
good offices, good person, grant, grant-in-aid, grease,
grease the ways, grease the wheels, guaranteed annual income, hand,
hands, hasten, healing agent, healing quality, help along,
help out, helper, helpers, helping, helping hand, helpmate,
helpmeet, hired help, improve, inform, jack-at-a-pinch, keep from,
keep off, laborers, lackey, lend a hand, lend one aid, lieutenant,
lift, look after, loose, lubricate, maid, make clear, make way for,
meliorate, men, menial, minister to, ministering angel, ministrant,
ministration, ministry, mitigate, nick, obviate, office, offices,
oil, old-age insurance, open the way, open up, palliate, pander to,
paranymph, paraprofessional, patron, pave the way, pay the bills,
pecuniary aid, pension, pension off, personnel, pinch, pirate,
place, plagiarize, plate, portion, preclude, prepare the way,
prescription, prevent, price support, proffer aid, profit,
prohibit, promote, protect, protection, public assistance,
public welfare, purloin, quicken, rally, receipt, recipe, reclaim,
redeem, refrain from, relief, relieve, remedial measure, remedy,
remove friction, render a service, render assistance, repel,
rescue, resist, restorative, restore, resuscitate, retinue,
retirement benefits, revive, rule out, run interference for, save,
scholarship, scullion, second, second helping, servant, servantry,
servants, serve, service, serving, servitor, set up, sideman,
simplify, slavey, smooth, smooth the way, soap the ways,
sovereign remedy, specific, specific remedy, speed, staff,
stand back of, stave off, stead, steal, stipend, stop, striker,
subsidization, subsidize, subsidy, subvention, succor, succorer,
support, supporter, supporting actor, supporting instrumentalist,
take, take care of, take in tow, tax benefit, tend, the help,
therapy, turn aside, turnspit, unbar, unblock, unclog, unjam,
uphold, upon, use, usurp, valet, wait, wait on, ward off, welfare,
welfare aid, welfare payments, work for, workers
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
HELP
1. DEA. A Language for industrial
robots.
2. (Help Est un Lisp Paresseux - Help Is a Lazy Lisp). A
lazy version of Scheme with strictness annotations, by
Thomas Schiex .