From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Help \Help\ (h[e^]lp), verb (used with an object) [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.
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.
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.
The true calamus helps coughs. --Gerarde.
4. To change for the better; to remedy.
Cease to lament for what thou canst not help. --Shak.
5. To prevent; to hinder; as, the evil approaches, and who can help it? --Swift.
I can not help remarking the resemblance betwixt him and our author. --Pope.
7. To wait upon, as the guests at table, by carving and passing food.
{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.
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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
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]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
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: {portion}, {serving}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
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
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0