help
- noun
- /hɛlp/
- We didn't have any house help, cooking, cleaning.
- domestic help
- hired help
- full-time help
OK, so if you need some freelance help, there you go.
- OK, so if you need some freelance help, there you go.
- in any town and not see the help wanted signs.
- And one day this very old woman approaches the stand and she's like, I see there's a help wanted sign.
Examples
-
But he agreed to hire some help.
-
A possible explanation is that full-time domestic help is more easily available in Singapore.
Academic text (1992) -
If business goes on the way it is, we're going to have to take on more help.
-
Pa can use it to hire enough help to make up for it.
Fiction book (1990) -
Their home was generally run by an elderly house help, whom they both called "Madam" behind her back.
Fiction book (1993) -
First it was hired help, and then it was my Aunt Claire.
Fiction book (1992) -
Restaurants that rely on seasonal help need to be monitored constantly, she notes.
Academic text (1996) -
Many restaurants had transient help, so it became routine to offer retraining during the course of the year.
Academic text (1999) -
The house was well-staffed, in contrast to the limited help Julian and Vivian managed with at The Terraces.
Fiction book (1990) -
She hired a gardener as help to maintain her garden.
Synonyms
A person who helps someone with their work or tasks
A person employed to do physical or routine jobs
A person who does tasks for others, for example at events
A person who helps staff or members in an organization
People who are paid to do house or farm work
A person paid to clean and cook in a home
A person who helps in a restaurant kitchen with preparing food and cleaning
A person who helps older or disabled people with housework and shopping at home
A person who carries tools and does basic manual work for a plumber
A person who does basic physical work to help others, like cleaning or lifting
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
To feel so annoyed or frustrated that you make a soft unhappy sound
- Informal
Want food so much that you cannot stop your mouth from filling with saliva
- Informal
To be unable to stop yourself from staring in a rude or amazed way
Compounds
- Offensive
A person who always asks others for help but never tries to solve problems alone or help them back
How Much Help
Surface Forms
Etymology
Help meaning a hired worker comes from the simple idea of a 'helper' and the same root helpan/helfen, so over time 'help' came to mean people paid to assist with work, especially in the home.