Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Help

Help

(hĕlp)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Helped
(hĕlpt)
(
Obs
.
imp.
Holp
(hōlp)
,
p. p.
Holpen
(hōl′p’n)
);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Helping
.]
[AS.
helpan
; akin to OS.
helpan
, D.
helpen
, G.
helfen
, OHG.
helfan
, Icel.
hjālpa
, 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
.
Shakespeare
5.
To prevent; to hinder; as, the evil approaches, and who can help it?
Swift.
6.
To forbear; to avoid.
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.

Syn. – To aid; assist; succor; relieve; serve; support; sustain; befriend.
– 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 coöperation 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.

Help

,
Verb.
I.
To lend aid or assistance; to contribute strength or means; to avail or be of use; to assist.
A generous present helps to persuade, as well as an agreeable person.
Garth.
To help out
,
to lend aid; to bring a supply.

Help

,
Noun.
[AS.
help
; akin to D.
hulp
, G.
hülfe
,
hilfe
, Icel.
hjālp
, Sw.
hjelp
, Dan.
hielp
. See
Help
,
Verb.
T.
]
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
.
Give us
help
from trouble, for vain is the
help
of man.
Ps. lx. 11.
God is . . . a very present
help
in trouble.
Ps. xlvi. 1.
Virtue is a friend and a
help
to nature.
South.
2.
Remedy; relief;
as, there is no
help
for it
.
3.
A helper; one hired to help another; also, thew hole force of hired helpers in any business.
4.
Specifically, a domestic servant, man or woman.
[Local, U. S.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Help

HELP

,
Verb.
T.
A regular verb; the old past tense and participle holp and holpen being obsolete.
1.
To aid; to assist; to lend strength or means towards effecting a purpose; as, to help a man in his work; to help another in raising a building; to help one to pay his debts; to help the memory or the understanding.
2.
To assist; to succor; to lend means of deliverance; as, to help one in distress; to help one out of prison.
3.
To relieve; to cure, or to mitigate pain or disease.
Help and ease them, but by no means bemoan them.
The true calamus helps a cough.
Sometimes with of; as, to help one of blindness.
4.
To remedy; to change for the better.
Cease to lament for what thou cans't not help.
5.
To prevent; to hinder. The evil approached, and who can help it?
6.
To forbear; to avoid.
I cannot help remarking the resemblance between him and our author--
To help forward, to advance by assistance.
To help on, to forward; to promote by aid.
To help out, to aid in delivering from difficulty, or to aid in completing a design.
The god of learning and of light,
Would want a god himself to help him out.
To help over, to enable to surmount; as, to help one over a difficulty.
To help off, to remove by help; as, to help off time. [Unusual.]
To help to, to supply with; to furnish with.
Whom they would help to a kingdom. 1 Maccabees.
Also, to present to at table; as, to help one to a glass of wine.

HELP

,
Verb.
I.
To lend aid; to contribute strength or means.
A generous present helps to persuade, as well as an agreeable person.
To help out, to lend aid; to bring a supply.

HELP

,
Noun.
Aid; assistance; strength or means furnished towards promoting an object, or deliverance from difficulty or distress.
Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man. Ps.60.
1.
That which gives assistance; he or that which contributes to advance a purpose.
Virtue is a friend and a help to nature.
God is a very present help in time of trouble. Ps.46.
2.
Remedy; relief. The evil is done; there is no help for it. There is no help for the man; his disease is incurable.
3.
A hired man or woman; a servant.

Similar Results