What is "help"

Help \Help\ (h[e^]lp), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Helped (h[e^]lpt) (Obs. imp. Holp (h[=o]lp), p. p. Holpen (h[=o]l"p'n)); p. pr. & vb. n. Helping.] [AS. helpan; akin to OS. helpan, D. helpen, G. helfen, OHG. helfan, Icel. hj[=a]lpa, 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.
   --Shak.

5. To prevent; to hinder; as, the evil approaches, and who can help it?
   --Swift.

6. To forbear; to avoid.

   I can not help remarking the resemblance betwixt him and our author.
   --Pope.

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.

   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.

   Usage: 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 co["o]peration 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 \Help\, n. [AS. help; akin to D. hulp, G. h["u]lfe, hilfe, Icel. hj[=a]lp, Sw. hjelp, Dan. hielp. See Help, v. 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.]

Help \Help\, v. 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.

Old English help (m.), helpe (f.) "assistance, succor;" see help (v.). Most Germanic languages also have the noun form, such as 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].\nThough help also meant "assistant, helper, supporter" in Middle English (c.1200).\n

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 (cognates: Old Norse hjalpa, Old Frisian helpa, Middle Dutch and Dutch helpen, Old High German helfan, German helfen), from PIE root *kelb- "to help" (cognates: Lithuanian selpiu "to support, help").\n

\nRecorded 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.

Etymology 1 n. 1 (context uncountable English) Action given to provide assistance; aid. 2 (context usually uncountable English) Something or someone which provides assistance with a task. 3 documentation provided with computer software, etc. and accessed using the computer. 4 (context usually uncountable English) One or more people employed to help in the maintenance of a house or the operation of a farm or enterprise. 5 (context uncountable euphemistic English) Correction of deficits, as by psychological counseling or medication or social support or remedial training. Etymology 2

interj. A cry of distress or an urgent request for assistance vb. (context transitive English) To provide assistance to (someone or something).

1. n. the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose; "he gave me an assist with the housework"; "could not walk without assistance"; "rescue party went to their aid"; "offered his help in unloading" [syn: aid, assist, assistance]

2. a resource; "visual aids in teaching"; "economic assistance to depressed areas" [syn: aid, assistance]

3. a means of serving; "of no avail"; "there's no help for it" [syn: avail, service]

4. a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose; "my invaluable assistant"; "they hired additional help to finish the work" [syn: assistant, helper, supporter]

1. v. give help or assistance; be of service; "Everyone helped out during the earthquake"; "Can you help me carry this table?"; "She never helps around the house" [syn: assist, aid]

2. be of use; "This will help to prevent accidents" [syn: facilitate]

3. improve the condition of; "These pills will help the patient" [syn: aid]

4. abstain from doing; always used with a negative; "I can't help myself--I have to smoke"; "She could not help watching the sad spectacle" [syn: help oneself]

5. contribute to the furtherance of; "This money will help the development of literacy in developing countries"

6. improve; change for the better; "New slipcovers will help the old living room furniture"

7. help to some food; help with food or drink; "I served him three times, and after that he helped himself" [syn: serve]

8. take or use; "She helped herself to some of the office supplies" [syn: avail]

"Help" is the fourth episode of the seventh and final season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Help is any form of assisting others.

Help may also refer to:

Help is a Dutch television drama series first broadcast by the NCRV in the early 1990s.

Help is a BBC television comedy series first screened on BBC Two in 2005. Written by and starring Paul Whitehouse and Chris Langham, it concerns a psychotherapist (Langham) and his therapy sessions with a variety of patients, almost all of whom are played by Whitehouse.

Peter Strong, the diffident psychologist, has an obsession with his receptionist Rebecca (played by Alison King) and also has regular appointments with his own therapist (who is also played by Whitehouse), which is the only time when the scene leaves Peter's office. Other performers were Mark Williams and Olivia Colman in cameos as patients, Alison Senior as a patient's wife, and Langham's real-life daughter Emily as a patient's precocious daughter. Two of the most frequent patients were Gary (the only role Whitehouse plays with no make-up), who initially uses his therapy sessions to escape from his wife; and Monty, an elderly Jewish taxi-driver whose wife is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Others include an Eastern European father, a magician and a TV presenter. The show was released on Region 4 DVD, but has so far remained unreleased in the UK. Since August 2014 all episodes have been available on YouTube.

In 2007 the development of Pedro, a character in the proposed second series - which was never made - became a focal point of Langham's trial.

Interviewed by Ben Thompson for The Guardian in 2005, Langham said, of his writing partnership with Whitehouse:

The way Paul works is to try and come up with a phrase that suits a particular voice ... That's the grain of sand around which the pearl of a character forms. Once he's found that voice, he's volcanic - it all comes out of him in a stream of consciousness which I can't type fast enough to keep up with. Then my rather less glamorous and exciting job would be to take that stuff and shape it, which was fine by me, as I'm kind of obsessed with structure.

Help is the eighth studio album by the American garage rock band Thee Oh Sees, released on April 28, 2009 on In the Red Records. The album is the band's second to be released under the name, Thee Oh Sees.

Help is a 2010 Bollywood horror film directed by Rajeev Virani in his directional debut. It stars Bobby Deol and Mugdha Godse in the lead roles and marks the debut of Sophia Handa in a supporting role. Shreyas Talpade also has a special role in the film although it was not marketed as his film. It released on 13 August 2010, making it the first Bollywood horror film to release on Friday the 13th, the day of bad luck. The film was shot in Mauritius.

Help (styled as HELP) is a six-part Australian documentary series is broadcast on SBS One that takes you inside the real-life events that Ambulance officers and paramedics face every day while on the job. Since 2010, the program is currently airing on Wednesday afternoons at 3pm.

Help were a 1970s psychedelic, acid, hard rock power trio from California.

The band comprised Jack Merrill (vocals, guitar), Ron Rochan (vocals, bass guitar, percussion), and Chet McCracken (vocals, drums, percussion, formerly of the Evergreen Blueshoes).

They released two albums on Decca Records in 1970 and 1971.

McCracken went on to drum with The Doobie Brothers.

In computing, help is a command in various command line shells such as [[COMMAND.COM]], [[cmd.exe]], Bash, 4DOS/ 4NT, Windows PowerShell, Singularity shell, Python and GNU Octave. It provides online information about available commands and the shell environment. The command is also available in the DEC RT-11 operating system. On Unix, the command is part of the Source Code Control System and prints help information for the SCCS commands.

Help is the debut studio album by Mary Mary recording artist Erica Campbell and was released on March 25, 2014 by eOne. This is Erica Campbell's debut studio album without her sister Tina Campbell. The album's release was preceded by the singles "A Little More Jesus", the title track "Help" and "You Are". The album debuted at number 1 on the US Billboard Gospel Albums chart and number 6 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 23,000 copies. The album also won the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Album at the 57th Grammy Awards.