help

Help means to provide aid or assistance, or to improve a situation.

(verb)

  1. An example of help is when you mow your older neighbor's lawn for free.
  2. An example of help is when tutoring makes your grades get better.

Help is defined as a plea or request for aid or assistance.

(interjection)

An example of help is what you would shout if you fall and can't get up.

The definition of help is aid that you request, or is someone who provides assistance.

(noun)

  1. An example of help is what you are asking for when you ask your neighbor to get your mail.
  2. An example of help is someone who goes out of his way to aid you.

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See help in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb

  1. to make things easier or better for (a person); aid; assist; specif.,
    1. to give (one in need or trouble) something necessary, as relief, succor, money, etc.: to help the poor
    2. to do part of the work of; ease or share the labor of: to help someone lift a load
    3. to aid in getting (up, down, in, etc. or to, into, out of, etc.): help her into the house
  2. to make it easier for (something) to exist, happen, develop, improve, etc.; specif.,
    1. to make more effective, larger, more intense, etc.; aid the growth of; promote: a tax to help the schools
    2. to cause improvement in; remedy; alleviate; relieve: a medicine that helps a cold
    1. to keep from; avoid: he can't help coughing
    2. to stop, prevent, change, etc.: a misfortune that can't be helped
  3. to serve or wait on (a customer, client, etc.)

Origin: ME helpen < OE helpan, akin to Ger helfen < IE base *elb-, *elp-, to help > early Lith sělbinos, to aid

intransitive verb

  1. to give assistance; be cooperative, useful, or beneficial
  2. to act as a waiter, clerk, servant, etc.

noun

  1. the act of helping or a thing that helps; aid; assistance
  2. relief; cure; remedy
    1. a helper; esp., a hired helper, as a domestic servant, farmhand, etc.
    2. hired helpers; employees

Origin: ME < OE < base of the v.; in U.S., sense of “servant,” prob. a euphemism to avoid stigma of “serve”

interjection

used to summon assistance, esp. urgently

See help in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb helped, help·ing, helps
verb, transitive
  1. To give assistance to; aid: I helped her find the book. He helped me into my coat.
  2. To contribute to the furtherance of; promote.
  3. To give relief to: help the needy.
  4. To ease; relieve: medication to help your cold.
  5. To change for the better; improve: A fresh coat of paint will help a scarred old table.
  6. To refrain from; avoid or resist. Used with can or cannot: couldn't help laughing.
  7. To wait on, as in a store or restaurant.
verb, intransitive
To be of service; give assistance.
noun
  1. a. The act or an instance of helping.
    b. Aid or assistance.
  2. Relief; remedy.
  3. One that helps: You've been a great help. A food processor is a help to the serious cook.
  4. A person employed to help, especially a farm worker or domestic servant.
    Such employees considered as a group. Often used with the.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English helpen

Origin: , from Old English helpan

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Usage Note: Many people commonly use help in the sense conveyed in the sentence Don't change it any more than you can help (that is, “any more than you have to”). Some grammarians condemn this usage on the grounds that help in this sense means “avoid” and therefore logically requires a negative. But the expression is a well-established idiom. See Usage Note at cannot.

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