help

help [help]

vt.

[ME helpen < OE helpan, akin to Ger helfen < IE base * k̑elb-, *k̑elp-, to help > early Lith sělbinos, to aid]

1. to make things easier or better for (a person); aid; assist; specif.,

a) to give (one in need or trouble) something necessary, as relief, succor, money, etc. [to help the poor]

b) to do part of the work of; ease or share the labor of [to help someone lift a load]

c) 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.,

a) to make more effective, larger, more intense, etc.; aid the growth of; promote [a tax to help the schools]

b) to cause improvement in; remedy; alleviate; relieve [a medicine that helps a cold]

3.

a) to keep from; avoid [he can't help coughing]

b) to stop, prevent, change, etc. [a misfortune that can't be helped]

4. to serve or wait on (a customer, client, etc.)

vi.

1. to give assistance; be cooperative, useful, or beneficial

2. to act as a waiter, clerk, servant, etc.

n.

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

1. the act of helping or a thing that helps; aid; assistance

2. relief; cure; remedy

3.

☆ a) a helper; esp., a hired helper, as a domestic servant, farmhand, etc.

b) hired helpers; employees

interj.

used to summon assistance, esp. urgently

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cannot help but

cannot fail to; be compelled or obliged to

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cannot help oneself

to be the victim of circumstances, a habit, etc.

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help oneself to

1. to serve or provide oneself with (food, etc.)

2. to take without asking or being given; steal

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help out

to help in getting or doing something; help

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so help me God or so help me

I swear

SYN.- HELP is the simplest and strongest of these words meaning to supply another with whatever is necessary to accomplish his or her ends or relieve his or her wants; AID and ASSIST are somewhat more formal and weaker, ASSIST esp. implying a subordinate role in the helper and less need for help [she assisted him in his experiments ]; SUCCOR suggests timely help to one in distress [to succor a besieged city ] -ANT. HINDER