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[help] /hɛlp/

verb (used with object)
1.
to give or provide what is necessary to accomplish a task or satisfy a need; contribute strength or means to; render assistance to; cooperate effectively with; aid; assist:
He planned to help me with my work. Let me help you with those packages.
2.
to save; rescue; succor:
Help me, I’m falling!
3.
to make easier or less difficult; contribute to; facilitate:
The exercise of restraint is certain to help the achievement of peace.
4.
to be useful or profitable to:
Her quick mind helped her career.
5.
to refrain from; avoid (usually preceded by can or cannot):
He can’t help doing it.
6.
to relieve or break the uniformity of:
Small patches of bright color can help an otherwise dull interior.
7.
to relieve (someone) in need, sickness, pain, or distress.
8.
to remedy, stop, or prevent:
Nothing will help my headache.
9.
to serve food to at table (usually followed by to):
Help her to salad.
10.
to serve or wait on (a customer), as in a store.
verb (used without object)
11.
to give aid; be of service or advantage:
Every little bit helps.
noun
12.
the act of ; aid or assistance; relief or succor.
13.
a person or thing that helps:
She certainly is a help in an emergency.
14.
a hired ; employee.
15.
a body of such .
16.
a domestic servant or a farm laborer.
17.
means of remedying, stopping, or preventing:
The thing is done, and there is no help for it now.
18.
Older Use. (def 2).
interjection
19.
(used as an exclamation to call for assistance or to attract attention.)
Verb phrases
20.
help out, to assist in an effort; be of aid to:
Her relatives helped out when she became ill.
Idioms
21.
cannot / can’t help but, to be unable to refrain from or avoid; be obliged to:
Still, you can’t help but admire her.
22.
help oneself to,

23.
so help me, (used as a mild form of the oath “so help me God”) I am speaking the truth; on my honor:
That’s exactly what happened, so help me.
/hɛlp/
verb
1.
to assist or aid (someone to do something), esp by sharing the work, cost, or burden of something: he helped his friend to escape, she helped him climb out of the boat
2.
to alleviate the burden of (someone else) by giving assistance
3.
(transitive) to assist (a person) to go in a specified direction: help the old lady up from the chair
4.
to promote or contribute to: to help the relief operations
5.
to cause improvement in (a situation, person, etc): crying won’t help
6.
(transitive; preceded by can, could, etc; usually used with a negative)

7.
to alleviate (an illness, etc)
8.
(transitive) to serve (a customer): can I help you, madam?
9.
(transitive) foll by to

10.
cannot help but, to be unable to do anything else except: I cannot help but laugh
11.
help a person off with, to assist a person in the removal of (clothes)
12.
help a person on with, to assist a person in the putting on of (clothes)
13.
so help me

noun
14.
the act of helping, or being helped, or a person or thing that helps: she’s a great help
15.
a helping
16.

17.
a means of remedy: there’s no help for it
interjection
18.
used to ask for assistance
v.

Old English helpan (class III strong verb; past tense healp, past participle holpen) “help, support, succor; benefit, do good to; cure, amend,” from Proto-Germanic *helpan (cf. Old Norse hjalpa, Old Frisian helpa, Middle Dutch and Dutch helpen, Old High German helfan, German helfen), from PIE root *kelb- “to help” (cf. Lithuanian selpiu “to support, help”).

Recorded as a cry of distress from late 14c. Sense of “serve someone with food at table” (1680s) is translated from French servir “to help, stead, avail,” and led to helping “portion of food.” Related: Helped (c.1300). The Middle English past participle holpen survives in biblical and U.S. dialectal use.
n.

Old English help (m.), helpe (f.) “assistance, succor;” see help (v.). Most Germanic languages also have the noun form, cf. Old Norse hjalp, Swedish hjälp, Old Frisian helpe, Dutch hulp, Old High German helfa, German Hilfe. Use of help as euphemism for “servant” is American English, 1640s, tied up in notions of class and race.

A domestic servant of American birth, and without negro blood in his or her veins … is not a servant, but a ‘help.’ ‘Help wanted,’ is the common heading of advertisements in the North, when servants are required. [Chas. Mackay, “Life and Liberty in America,” 1859].

Though help also meant “assistant, helper, supporter” in Middle English (c.1200).

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