From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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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