Helper
name, noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 One who helps; an aide; assistant; auxiliary.
- 2 a person who helps people or institutions (especially with financial help) wordnet
- 3 That which helps; anything serving to assist.
"While Adobe's Acrobat Reader, Macromedia's Flash player, and other common plug-ins suggest themselves the moment you encounter a site that requires them, other browser helpers are harder to find."
- 4 a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose wordnet
- 5 A person who does cleaning and cooking in a family home, or in a market; domestic employee. Hong-Kong, Philippines, Singapore
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- 6 A locomotive that assists a train, usually on steep gradients. US
"A device for the automatic control of crewless helper locomotives cut into the make-up of heavy freight trains has been perfected by the Louisville & Nashville RR in conjunction with the General Railway Signalling Co."
- 7 A stimulating pill, especially amphetamine. slang
"And I routinely took more “helpers” when I woke up in order to maintain the fast pace and, more importantly, to study for my final exams."
- 1 A city in Carbon County, Utah, United States, which got its name from the practice of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad of attaching helper engines to trains there.
- 2 A surname; variant of Halpern or Helfer.
Example
More examples"For four years, he cut the grass at the original price, but I noticed that toward the end of that year, he had a helper with him quite often."
Etymology
From Middle English helpere, from Old English *helpere, from Proto-West Germanic *helpārī (“helper”), equivalent to help + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hälper (“helper”), West Frisian helper (“helper”), Dutch helper (“helper”), German Low German Helper (“helper”), German Helfer (“helper”), Danish hjælper (“helper”), Swedish hjälpare (“helper”), Icelandic hjálpar (“helper”).