'Help' definitions:

Definition of 'help'

From: WordNet
noun
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]
noun
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]
noun
A resource; "visual aids in teaching" [syn: aid, assistance, help]
noun
A means of serving; "of no avail"; "there's no help for it" [syn: avail, help, service]
verb
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]
verb
Improve the condition of; "These pills will help the patient" [syn: help, aid]
verb
Be of use; "This will help to prevent accidents" [syn: help, facilitate]
verb
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]
verb
Help to some food; help with food or drink; "I served him three times, and after that he helped himself" [syn: serve, help]
verb
Contribute to the furtherance of; "This money will help the development of literacy in developing countries"
verb
Take or use; "She helped herself to some of the office supplies" [syn: avail, help]
verb
Improve; change for the better; "New slipcovers will help the old living room furniture"

Definition of 'Help'

From: GCIDE
  • 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]

Definition of 'Help'

From: GCIDE
  • 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]

Definition of 'Help'

From: GCIDE
  • 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]

Synonyms of 'help'

From: Moby Thesaurus