6 N‑UNCOUNT In computing, help , or the help menu, is a file that gives you information and advice, for example about how to use a particular program. [COMPUTING ] □ If you get stuck, click on Help.
7 VERB If you help yourself to something, you serve yourself or you take it for yourself. If someone tells you to help yourself , they are telling you politely to serve yourself anything you want or to take anything you want. □ [V pron-refl] There's bread on the table. Help yourself. □ [V pron-refl + to ] Just help yourself to leaflets.
8 VERB If someone helps themselves to something, they steal it. [INFORMAL ] □ [V pron-refl + to ] Has somebody helped himself to some film star's diamonds?
9 → see also helping
10 PHRASE If you can't help the way you feel or behave, you cannot control it or stop it happening. You can also say that you can't help yourself . □ I can't help feeling sorry for the poor man.
11 PHRASE If you say you can't help thinking something, you are expressing your opinion in an indirect way, often because you think it seems rude. [VAGUENESS ] □ I can't help feeling that this may just be another of her schemes.
12 PHRASE If someone or something is of help , they make a situation easier or better. □ Can I be of help to you?
▸ help out PHRASAL VERB If you help someone out , you help them by doing some work for them or by lending them some money. □ [V P + with ] I help out with the secretarial work. □ [V n P ] All these presents came to more money than I had, and my mother had to help me out. □ [V P n] He thought you'd been brought in from Toronto to help out the local police. [Also V P ] SYNONYMS help VERB 1
aid: …a software system to aid managers in advanced decision-making.
assist: Julia was assisting him to prepare his speech.
bet: We shall strike hard, without flinching, at terrorists and those who abet them. COLLOCATIONS help NOUN
1
adjective + help : big, enormous, great, tremendous; considerable; financial, medical, psychiatric, psychological, technical; expert, professional
verb + help : ask for, enlist, seek; need; offer, provide; get, receive
6
verb + help : summon; call for, scream for, shout for VERB 2
help + adverb : enormously, immeasurably
help|er /he lpə r / (helpers ) N‑COUNT A helper is a person who helps another person or group with a job they are doing.
help|ful /he lpfʊl/
1 ADJ If you describe someone as helpful , you mean that they help you in some way, such as doing part of your job for you or by giving you advice or information. □ The staff in the London office are helpful but only have limited information. ● help|ful|ly ADV [ADV with v] □ They had helpfully provided us with instructions on how to find the house. ● help|ful|ness N‑UNCOUNT □ The level of expertise and helpfulness is far higher in smaller shops.
2 ADJ If you describe information or advice as helpful , you mean that it is useful for you. □ The following information may be helpful to readers.
3 ADJ Something that is helpful makes a situation more pleasant or more easy to tolerate. □ It is often helpful to have your spouse in the room when major news is expected.
help|ing /he lp I ŋ/ (helpings )
1 N‑COUNT [adj N ] A helping of food is the amount of it that you get in a single serving. □ [+ of ] She gave them extra helpings of ice-cream.
2 N‑COUNT You can refer to an amount of something, especially a quality, as a helping of that thing. [INFORMAL ] □ [+ of ] It took a generous helping of entrepreneurial confidence to persevere during this incident.
help|less /he lpləs/ ADJ [oft ADJ to-inf] If you are helpless , you do not have the strength or power to do anything useful or to control or protect yourself. □ Parents often feel helpless, knowing that all the cuddles in the world won't stop the tears. ● help|less|ly ADV [usu ADV with v] □ Their son watched helplessly as they vanished beneath the waves. ● help|less|ness N‑UNCOUNT □ I remember my feelings of helplessness.
help|line /he lpla I n/ (helplines ) N‑COUNT A helpline is a special phone service that people can call to get advice about a particular subject.
help|mate /he lpme I t/ (helpmates ) N‑COUNT If you say that one person is another person's helpmate , you mean that they help the other person in their life or work, especially by doing boring but necessary jobs for them such as cooking and cleaning. [OLD-FASHIONED ]
helter-skelter /he ltə r ske ltə r / ADJ [ADJ n] You use helter-skelter to describe something that is hurried and disorganized, especially when things happen very quickly, one after the other. □ He now faces another crisis in his helter-skelter existence. ● ADV [ADV after v] Helter-skelter is also an adverb. □ …a panic-stricken crowd running helter-skelter to get away from the tear gas.
hem /he m/ (hems , hemming , hemmed )
1 N‑COUNT A hem on something such as a piece of clothing is an edge that is folded over and stitched down to prevent threads coming loose. The hem of a skirt or dress is the bottom edge.
2 VERB If you hem something, you form a hem along its edge. □ [V n] Turn under and hem the outer edges.
3 hem and haw → see haw