n. [ AS. help; akin to D. hulp, G. hülfe, hilfe, Icel. hjālp, 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 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Helped Obs. imp. Holp p. p. Holpen ; 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. [ 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.

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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. -- 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ]

n. One who, or that which, helps, aids, assists, or relieves; as, a lay helper in a parish. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou art the helper of the fatherless. Ps. x. 14. [ 1913 Webster ]

Compassion . . . oftentimes a helper of evils. Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Furnishing help; giving aid; assistant; useful; salutary. [ 1913 Webster ]

Heavens make our presence and our practices
Pleasant and helpful to him! Shak.

-- Help"ful*ly, adv. -- Help"ful*ness, n. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 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 ]

a. 1. Destitute of help or strength; unable to help or defend one's self; needing help; feeble; weak; as, a helpless infant. [ 1913 Webster ]

How shall I then your helpless fame defend? Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Beyond help; irremediable. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some helpless disagreement or dislike, either of mind or body. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Bringing no help; unaiding. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Yet since the gods have been
Helpless foreseers of my plagues. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Unsupplied; destitute; -- with of. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Helpless of all that human wants require. Dryden.

-- Help"less*ly, adv. -- Help"less*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ A corruption of the “help meet for him” of Genesis ii. 18.Fitzedward Hall. ] A helper; a companion; specifically, a wife. [ 1913 Webster ]

In Minorca the ass and the hog are common helpmates, and are yoked together in order to turn up the land. Pennant. [ 1913 Webster ]

A waiting woman was generally considered as the most suitable helpmate for a parson. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Helpmate. ] A wife; a helpmate. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Lord God created Adam, . . . and afterwards, on his finding the want of a helpmeet, caused him to sleep, and took one of his ribs and thence made woman. J. H. Newman. [ 1913 Webster ]