to shout for help
- phrasal verb
- /ʃaʊt fɔr hɛlp/
- In spite of his pain, Sam dragged his sister to shore and shouted for help.
Examples
-
I'm shouting for help, and even Janey must have sensed the sudden urgency because she's brought the canhopper back to float.
Fiction book (1998) -
Too stunned to protest, and breathing too heavily to shout for help, Klinger sank to his knees.
Fiction book (1994) -
All at once, he heard someone shouting for help.
Fiction book (1994) -
He began shouting for help: there must be a village nearby.
Fiction book (1995) -
It sounded like somebody shouting for help.
-
I rushed to help Fahmi and started shouting for help from the other fishermen on the shore.
Blog text (22) -
She shouts for help.
Academic text (1993) -
Carmine gets tangled in the jackhammer's air hose and is dragged along, shouting for help.
Fiction book (1990) -
You're all wearing gas masks and moving through the rooms of the compound, trying to find and move all fifty-three of the hostages. It's dark, and most of the hostages are knocked out like the guards, but some of the rooms were well-sealed, and naturally these hostages are shouting for help.
Fiction book (1991) -
When he fell off the cliff, he started shouting for help as loud as he could.
Synonyms
To make a loud sound to get attention
To shout loudly because you feel strong pain, anger or excitement
To say something loudly so people can hear
To make a serious request for help or support
To ask loudly for help in an emergency
Say something loudly to show strong feeling or get attention
To call out loud in public to tell news or sell things
Shout very loudly to show pain, anger or strong protest
To shout loudly when you need help right away
Shout loudly to get attention or call someone
To ask people or groups for help when you need it
Make a loud high sound by blowing through your lips to call for help
To call out loudly to get attention or greet someone
To call out loudly to get someone's attention from a distance
To shout loudly to get someone's attention from far away
Antonyms
How Loud
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to loudly call out requesting assistance' is directly derivable from the parts: 'shout' (utter loudly) + 'for' (indicating purpose/recipient) + 'help' (assistance), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the meaning. This verb + preposition + noun composition is cross-linguistically common and follows a literal, predictable pattern rather than an idiomatic shift.
Etymology
Shout for help comes from the simple image of someone making a very loud sound, shout, to get others to come and help, for help. So it means 'to call out loudly for assistance' when you need urgent help.