Definition of "help"

help¹

/hɛlp/

noun
usually uncountable, plural helps
1. (uncountable) Action given to provide assistance; aid.
2. Something or someone which provides assistance with a task.
3. Documentation provided with computer software, etc. and accessed using the computer.
4. (countable) A study aid.
  Quotations
  In 1979 the Church published a Latter-day Saint edition of the King James Version of the Bible in English. Included in this edition were numerous helps to make a study of the scriptures more meaningful and rewarding.
  c. 2002, “Scripture Study Helps”, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints‎
5. (usually uncountable) One or more people employed to help in the maintenance of a house or the operation of a farm or enterprise.
6. (uncountable) Correction of deficits, as by psychological counseling or medication or social support or remedial training.

help²

/hɛlp/

verb
third-person singular simple present helps, present participle helping, simple past helped or (archaic) holp, past participle helped or (archaic) holpen
1. (transitive) To provide assistance to (someone or something).
  Quotations
  Risk is everywhere. […] For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you. “The Norm Chronicles” […] aims to help data-phobes find their way through this blizzard of risks.
  2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76
2. (transitive) To assist (a person) in getting something, especially food or drink at table; used with to.
3. (transitive) To contribute in some way to.
4. (intransitive) To provide assistance.
  Quotations
  As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.
  1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess‎
  Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
  2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3
5. (transitive) To avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself). Usually used in nonassertive contexts with can.
6. (Hong Kong) To do something on the behalf of someone.
interjection
1. A cry of distress or an urgent request for assistance

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