Help Definition

hĕlp
helped, helping, helps
verb
helped, helping, helps
To make things easier or better for (a person); aid; assist.
Webster's New World
To give material or financial aid to.
Help the homeless.
American Heritage
To act as a waiter, clerk, servant, etc.
Webster's New World
To wait on, as in a store or restaurant.
Please help the customer in aisle 20.
American Heritage
To make it easier for (something) to exist, happen, develop, improve, etc.
Webster's New World
noun
helps
The act of helping or a thing that helps; aid; assistance.
Webster's New World
One that helps.
You've been a great help. A food processor is a help to the serious cook.
American Heritage
Relief; cure; remedy.
Webster's New World
A helper; esp., a hired helper, as a domestic servant, farmhand, etc.
Webster's New World
Such employees considered as a group. Often used with the.
American Heritage
interjection
Used to summon assistance, esp. urgently.
Webster's New World
idiom
help (oneself) to
  • To serve or provide oneself with:

    Help yourself to the cookies.

  • To take (something) without asking permission:

    The thief even helped himself to the spare change in the jar.

American Heritage
help (someone) off
  • To assist (someone) in taking off a piece of clothing:

    Help me off with these boots.

American Heritage
help (someone) on
  • To assist in putting on a piece of clothing:

    Help your grandmother on with her coat.

American Heritage
cannot help but
  • cannot fail to; be compelled or obliged to
Webster's New World
cannot help oneself
  • to be the victim of circumstances, a habit, etc.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Help

Noun

Singular:
help
Plural:
helps

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Help

  • help (oneself) to
  • help (someone) off
  • help (someone) on
  • cannot help but
  • cannot help oneself
  • help oneself (to)
  • help out
  • so help me (God)

Origin of Help

  • From Middle English helpen, from Old English helpan (“to help, aid, assist, benefit, relieve, cure”), from Proto-Germanic *helpaną (“to help”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelb-, *ḱelp- (“to help”). Cognate with West Frisian helpe (“to help”), Low German helpen (“to help”), Dutch helpen (“to help”), German helfen (“to help”), Danish hjælpe (“to help”), Norwegian hjelpe (“to help”).

    From Wiktionary

  • From Middle English, from Old English help (“help, aid, assistance, relief”), from Proto-Germanic *helpō (“help”), *hilpiz, *hulpiz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelb-, *ḱelp- (“to help”). Cognate with West Frisian help (“help”), Dutch hulp (“help”), Swedish hjälpa (“to help”), German Hilfe (“help, aid, assistance”), Danish hjælp (“help”), Norwegian hjelp (“help”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English helpen from Old English helpan

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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