stack

stack
    n 1: an orderly pile
    2: (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent;
       "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money";
       "he made a mint on the stock market"; "see the rest of the
       winners in our huge passel of photos"; "it must have cost
       plenty"; "a slew of journalists"; "a wad of money" [syn:
       {batch}, {deal}, {flock}, {good deal}, {great deal},
       {hatful}, {heap}, {lot}, {mass}, {mess}, {mickle}, {mint},
       {mountain}, {muckle}, {passel}, {peck}, {pile}, {plenty},
       {pot}, {quite a little}, {raft}, {sight}, {slew}, {spate},
       {stack}, {tidy sum}, {wad}]
    3: a list in which the next item to be removed is the item most
       recently stored (LIFO) [syn: {push-down list}, {push-down
       stack}, {stack}]
    4: a large tall chimney through which combustion gases and smoke
       can be evacuated [syn: {smokestack}, {stack}]
    5: a storage device that handles data so that the next item to
       be retrieved is the item most recently stored (LIFO) [syn:
       {push-down storage}, {push-down store}, {stack}]
    v 1: load or cover with stacks; "stack a truck with boxes"
    2: arrange in stacks; "heap firewood around the fireplace";
       "stack your books up on the shelves" [syn: {stack}, {pile},
       {heap}]
    3: arrange the order of so as to increase one's winning chances;
       "stack the deck of cards"
    

Stack \Stack\ (st[a^]k), n. [Icel. stakkr; akin to Sw. stack,
   Dan. stak. Cf. {Stake}.]
   1. A large and to some degree orderly pile of hay, grain,
      straw, or the like, usually of a nearly conical form, but
      sometimes rectangular or oblong, contracted at the top to
      a point or ridge, and sometimes covered with thatch.
      [1913 Webster]

            But corn was housed, and beans were in the stack.
                                                  --Cowper.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hence: An orderly pile of any type of object, indefinite
      in quantity; -- used especially of piles of wood. A stack
      is usually more orderly than a {pile}
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

            Against every pillar was a stack of billets above a
            man's height.                         --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Specifically: A pile of wood containing 108 cubic feet.
      [Eng.]
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Hence: A large quantity; as, a stack of cash. [Informal]
      [PJC]

   5. (Arch.)
      (a) A number of flues embodied in one structure, rising
          above the roof. Hence:
      (b) Any single insulated and prominent structure, or
          upright pipe, which affords a conduit for smoke; as,
          the brick smokestack of a factory; the smokestack of a
          steam vessel.
          [1913 Webster]

   6. (Computer programming)
      (a) A section of memory in a computer used for temporary
          storage of data, in which the last datum stored is the
          first retrieved.
      (b) A data structure within random-access memory used to
          simulate a hardware stack; as, a push-down stack.
          [PJC]

   7. pl. The section of a library containing shelves which hold
      books less frequently requested.
      [PJC]

   {Stack of arms} (Mil.), a number of muskets or rifles set up
      together, with the bayonets crossing one another, forming
      a sort of conical self-supporting pile.

   {to blow one's stacks} to become very angry and lose one's
      self-control, and especially to display one's fury by
      shouting.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]
    

Stack \Stack\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stacked} (st[a^]kt); p. pr.
   & vb. n. {Stacking}.] [Cf. Sw. stacka, Dan. stakke. See
   {Stack}, n.]
   1. To lay in a conical or other pile; to make into a large
      pile; as, to stack hay, cornstalks, or grain; to stack or
      place wood.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Specifically: To place in a vertical arrangement so that
      each item in a pile is resting on top of another item in
      the pile, except for the bottom item; as, to stack the
      papers neatly on the desk; to stack the bricks.
      [PJC]

   3. To select or arrange dishonestly so as to achieve an
      unfair advantage; as, to stack a deck of cards; to stack a
      jury with persons prejudiced against the defendant.
      [PJC]

   {To stack arms} (Mil.), to set up a number of muskets or
      rifles together, with the bayonets crossing one another,
      and forming a sort of conical pile.
      [1913 Webster]
    

stack
 n.

   The set of things a person has to do in the future. One speaks of the
   next project to be attacked as having risen to the top of the stack.
   "I'm afraid I've got real work to do, so this'll have to be pushed way
   down on my stack." "I haven't done it yet because every time I pop my
   stack something new gets pushed." If you are interrupted several times
   in the middle of a conversation, "My stack overflowed" means "I forget
   what we were talking about." The implication is that more items were
   pushed onto the stack than could be remembered, so the least recent
   items were lost. The usual physical example of a stack is to be found
   in a cafeteria: a pile of plates or trays sitting on a spring in a
   well, so that when you put one on the top they all sink down, and when
   you take one off the top the rest spring up a bit. See also {push} and
   {pop}.

   (The Art of Computer Programming, second edition, vol. 1, p. 236)
   says:

  Many people who realized the importance of stacks and queues
  independently have given other names to these structures: stacks
  have been called push-down lists, reversion storages, cellars,
  nesting stores, piles, last-in-first-out ("LIFO") lists, and even
  yo-yo lists!

   The term "stack" was originally coined by Edsger Dijkstra, who was
   quite proud of it.
    

stack
FILO
last-in first-out
LIFO

   <programming> (See below for synonyms) A data structure for
   storing items which are to be accessed in last-in first-out
   order.

   The operations on a stack are to create a new stack, to "push"
   a new item onto the top of a stack and to "pop" the top item
   off.  Error conditions are raised by attempts to pop an empty
   stack or to push an item onto a stack which has no room for
   further items (because of its implementation).

   Most processors include support for stacks in their
   {instruction set architectures}.  Perhaps the most common use
   of stacks is to store {subroutine} arguments and return
   addresses.  This is usually supported at the {machine code}
   level either directly by "jump to subroutine" and "return from
   subroutine" instructions or by {auto-increment} and
   auto-decrement {addressing modes}, or both.  These allow a
   contiguous area of memory to be set aside for use as a stack
   and use either a special-purpose {register} or a general
   purpose register, chosen by the user, as a {stack pointer}.

   The use of a stack allows subroutines to be {recursive} since
   each call can have its own calling context, represented by a
   stack frame or {activation record}.  There are many other
   uses.  The programming language {Forth} uses a data stack in
   place of variables when possible.

   Although a stack may be considered an {object} by users,
   implementations of the object and its access details differ.
   For example, a stack may be either ascending (top of stack is
   at highest address) or descending.  It may also be "full" (the
   stack pointer points at the top of stack) or "empty" (the
   stack pointer points just past the top of stack, where the
   next element would be pushed).  The full/empty terminology is
   used in the {Acorn Risc Machine} and possibly elsewhere.

   In a list-based or {functional language}, a stack might be
   implemented as a {linked list} where a new stack is an empty
   list, push adds a new element to the head of the list and pop
   splits the list into its head (the popped element) and tail
   (the stack in its modified form).

   At {MIT}, {pdl} used to be a more common synonym for stack,
   and this may still be true.  {Knuth} ("The Art of Computer
   Programming", second edition, vol. 1, p. 236) says:

     Many people who realised the importance of stacks and queues
     independently have given other names to these structures:
     stacks have been called push-down lists, reversion storages,
     cellars, dumps, nesting stores, piles, last-in first-out
     ("LIFO") lists, and even yo-yo lists!

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1995-04-10)
    

234 Moby Thesaurus words for "stack":
      abundance, accumulate, accumulation, add up, adulterate,
      agglomerate, agglomeration, aggregate, aggregation, agree, amass,
      amassment, amount, anger, anthill, archives, armory, array,
      arsenal, atelier, attic, backlog, bag, bale, bank, bank up, barrel,
      basement, batch, bay, bin, bonded warehouse, book end,
      book support, book table, book tray, book truck, bookcase,
      bookholder, bookrack, bookrest, bookshelf, bookstack, bookstand,
      bottle, box, budget, bundle, bunker, burden, buttery, can,
      cargo dock, cellar, check out, chest, chimney, clamp, closet, cock,
      collect, collection, commissariat, commissary, compare,
      conservatory, considerable, cook, cornucopia, crate, crib,
      cumulation, cupboard, deal, deposit, depository, depot, dock,
      doctor, drawer, drift, dump, dune, embankment, exchequer, fake,
      fill, flue, flue pipe, folder, folio, freight, fumarole, funnel,
      glory hole, gobs, godown, good deal, great deal, haycock, haymow,
      hayrick, haystack, heap, heap up, heaps, hill, hoard, hold, host,
      hutch, inventory, jibe, juggle, lade, larder, lashings, library,
      load, loads, locker, loft, lot, lots, lumber room, lumberyard,
      magasin, magazine, make sense, manipulate, mass, material,
      materials, materiel, measure up, mess, mint, molehill, mound,
      mountain, mow, multitude, munitions, number, office, oodles, pack,
      pack away, peck, pile, pile up, piles, plant, plenitude, plenty,
      pocket, portfolio, pot, profusion, provisionment, provisions,
      pyramid, quantity, quite a little, rack, raft, rafts, rage, rant,
      rations, repertoire, repertory, repository, reservoir, retouch,
      revolving bookcase, rick, rig, sack, sail loft, salt, scads, sea,
      shelf, ship, sight, slew, slews, smokeshaft, smokestack, snowdrift,
      sophisticate, spate, squirrel away, stack room, stack up, stacks,
      stash, stock, stock room, stock-in-trade, stockpile, storage,
      store, storehouse, storeroom, stores, stovepipe, stow, studio,
      study, supplies, supply, supply base, supply depot, supply on hand,
      swarm, tamper with, tank, throng, tidy sum, treasure,
      treasure house, treasure room, treasury, vat, vault, volume, wad,
      wads, warehouse, whole slew, wine cellar, workroom