heap
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: hēp
ipa: /hiːp/
enpr: hāp
ipa: /heːp/
rhymes: -iːp
Forms: form: heaps
Etymology: From Middle English hepe, from Old English hēap, from Proto-West Germanic *haup, from Proto-Germanic *haupaz (compare Dutch hoop, German Low German Hupen, German Haufen), from Proto-Indo-European *koupos (“hill”) (compare Lithuanian kaũpas, Albanian qipi (“stack”), Avestan 𐬐𐬂𐬟𐬀 (kåfa)).
Senses: examples: text: A Heap of Vassals, and Slaues: […] A People that is without Naturall Affection, […] A Nation without Morality, without Letters, Arts, or Sciences
ref: 1622 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “An Advertisement Touching an Holy Warre. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC, page 104:
text: He had plenty of friends, heaps of friends in the parliamentary sense
ref: 1858, Anthony Trollope, Doctor Thorne. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:
glosses: A crowd; a throng; a multitude or great number of people.
examples: text: a heap of earth; a heap of stones
text: Huge heaps of slain around the body rise.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: Every break seemed dangerous and Falcao clearly had the beating of Amorebieta. Others, being forced to stretch a foot behind them to control Arda Turan's 34th-minute cross, might simply have lashed a shot on the turn; Falcao, though, twisted back on to his left foot, leaving Amorebieta in a heap, and thumped in an inevitable finish – his 12th goal in 15 European matches this season.
ref: 2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian:
glosses: A pile or mass; a collection of things laid in a body, or thrown together so as to form an elevation.
examples: text: a vast heap, both of places of scripture and quotations
ref: 1679, Gilbert Burnet, The History of the Reformation of the Church of England:
text: I have noticed a heap of things in my life.
ref: 1878, Robert Louis Stevenson, Will o' the Mill:
glosses: A great number or large quantity of things.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A data structure consisting of trees in which each node is greater than all its children.
examples: text: You should move these structures from the stack to the heap to avoid a potential stack overflow.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Memory that is dynamically allocated.
examples: text: My first car was an old heap.
text: Chuffy: It's on a knife edge at the moment, Bertie. If he can get planning permission, old Stoker's going to take this heap off my hands in return for vast amounts of oof.
ref: 1991 May 12, “Kidnapped!”, in Jeeves and Wooster, Series 2, Episode 5:
glosses: A dilapidated place or vehicle.
examples: text: Thanks a heap!
text: [W]e went to the play, and Pen was struck all of a heap with Miss Fotheringay … And he’s fallen in love with her—and I’m blessed if he hasn’t proposed to her […]
ref: 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 10, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
glosses: A lot, a large amount
Derived terms: aheap
all of a heap
ant-heap
antheap
ash-heap
ash-heap-cake
ash heap of history
at the top of the heap
compost heap
dung heap
dung-heap
dustheap
dust heap of history
garbage heap of history
Heap Bridge
heaper
heapful
heapmeal
heapsort
heapy
it takes a heap of living to make a house a home
it takes a heap o' livin' to make a house a home
junkheap
minheap
moleheap
muckheap
mudheap
sandheap
scrap heap
scrapheap
scrap-heap
semiheap
shellheap
shitheap
slag heap
spoil heap
subheap
thanks a heap
to-heap
trash heap of history
treap