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Help vs Heap - What's the difference?

help | heap |

As nouns the difference between help and heap

is that help is (uncountable) action given to provide assistance; aid while heap is heap.

As a verb help

is to provide assistance to (someone or something).

help

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (uncountable) Action given to provide assistance; aid.
    • I need some help with my homework.
  • (usually, uncountable) Something or someone which provides assistance with a task.
    • He was a great help to me when I was moving house.
    I've printed out a list of math helps .
  • Documentation provided with computer software, etc. and accessed using the computer.
    • I can't find anything in the help about rotating an image.
  • (usually, uncountable) One or more people employed to help in the maintenance of a house or the operation of a farm or enterprise.
    • The help is coming round this morning to clean.
    Most of the hired help is seasonal, for the harvest.
  • (uncountable, euphemistic) Correction of deficits, as by psychological counseling or medication or social support or remedial training.
    • His suicide attempts were a cry for help .
    He really needs help in handling customer complaints.
    ''"He's a real road-rager." / "Yup, he really needs help , maybe anger management."
    Usage notes
    The sense "people employed to help in the maintenance of a house" is usually an uncountable mass noun. A countable form - "a hired help''", "''two hired helps " - is attested, but now less common.
    Quotations
    (English Citations of "help")
    Synonyms
    * (action given to provide assistance) aid, assistance * (person or persons who provide assistance) * (person employed to help in the maintenance of a house)
    Derived terms
    * cry for help * help desk * helpful * helpless * helpline * helply * helpmate * helpmeet * helpsome * home help * self-help

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) helpen, from (etyl) . Cognate with (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To provide assistance to (someone or something).
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Snakes and ladders , passage=Risk is everywhere.
  • To contribute in some way to.
  • To provide assistance.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=19 citation , passage=As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help , and he stripped off his tunic at once.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}
  • To avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself). Usually used in nonassertive contexts with can .
    • Usage notes
    * Use 3 is often used in the imperative mood as a call for assistance. * In uses 1, 2 and 3, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . It can also take the bare infinitive with no change in meaning. * In use 4, can't help is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) or, with but, the bare infinitive. * For more information, see
    Synonyms
    * (provide assistance to) aid, assist, come to the aid of, help out * (contribute in some way to) contribute to * (provide assistance) assist
    Derived terms
    * a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down * can't help * helper * helping * help oneself * help out

    Statistics

    * English control verbs English phrasebook 1000 English basic words ----

    heap

    English

    (wikipedia heap)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A crowd; a throng; a multitude or great number of people.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • a heap of vassals and slaves
  • * W. Black
    • He had heaps of friends.
  • A pile or mass; a collection of things laid in a body, or thrown together so as to form an elevation.
    • a heap of earth or stones
  • * Dryden
    • Huge heaps of slain around the body rise.
  • A great number or large quantity of things.
  • * Bishop Burnet
    • a vast heap , both of places of scripture and quotations
  • * Robert Louis Stevenson
    • I have noticed a heap of things in my life.
  • (computing) A data structure consisting of trees in which each node is greater than all its children.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 9 , author=Jonathan Wilson , title=Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=Every break seemed dangerous and Falcao clearly had the beating of Amorebieta. Others, being forced to stretch a foot behind them to control Arda Turan's 34th-minute cross, might simply have lashed a shot on the turn; Falcao, though, twisted back on to his left foot, leaving Amorebieta in a heap , and thumped in an inevitable finish – his 12th goal in 15 European matches this season.}}

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Verb

    (heap)
  • To pile in a heap.
    • He heaped the laundry upon the bed and began folding.
  • To form or round into a heap, as in measuring.
  • * 1819 , , Otho the Great , Act I, scene II, verses 40-42
    • Cry a reward, to him who shall first bring
    News of that vanished Arabian,
    A full-heap’d helmet of the purest gold.
  • To supply in great quantity.
    • They heaped praise upon their newest hero.

    Derived terms

    * heap up

    Anagrams

    * * * ----