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

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

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

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

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