to help on

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.
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   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.
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   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.
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            The true calamus helps coughs.        --Gerarde.
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   4. To change for the better; to remedy.
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            Cease to lament for what thou canst not help.
                                                  --Shak.
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   5. To prevent; to hinder; as, the evil approaches, and who
      can help it? --Swift.
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   6. To forbear; to avoid.
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            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.
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   {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.
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            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.
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