Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A group of things placed or thrown, one on top of the other.
  • noun Informal A great deal; a lot.
  • noun Slang An old or run-down car.
  • transitive verb To put or throw in a pile.
  • transitive verb To fill completely or to overflowing.
  • transitive verb To bestow in abundance or lavishly.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A great number of persons or animals; a troop; a crowd; a multitude.
  • noun A great number of things; a large accumulation, stock, or store of any kind; a large quantity; a great deal: as, a heap of money; the frost destroyed a heap of fruit.
  • noun A collection of things laid in a body so as to form an elevation; a pile or raised mass: as, a heap of earth or stones. In some places a heap of limestone was formerly 4¾ cubic yards.
  • noun In mathematics, a collection of objects all related in the same way one to another.
  • To cast, lay, or gather in a heap; pile; accumulate; amass: as, to heap stones or ore: often with up or on: as, to heap up treasures; to heap on wood or coal.
  • To round or form into a heap, as in measuring; give or fill with overflowing measure.
  • To bestow a heap or large quantity upon.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To collect in great quantity; to amass; to lay up; to accumulate; -- usually with up.
  • transitive verb To throw or lay in a heap; to make a heap of; to pile; ; -- often with up; ; or with on.
  • transitive verb To form or round into a heap, as in measuring; to fill (a measure) more than even full.
  • noun Now Low or Humorous A crowd; a throng; a multitude or great number of persons.
  • noun Now Low or Humorous A great number or large quantity of things not placed in a pile.
  • noun A pile or mass; a collection of things laid in a body, or thrown together so as to form an elevation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A crowd; a throng; a multitude or great number of people.
  • noun A great number or large quantity of things not placed in a pile.
  • noun A pile or mass; a collection of things laid in a body, or thrown together so as to form an elevation; as, a heap of earth or stones.
  • noun computing A data structure consisting of trees in which each node is greater than all its children.
  • verb transitive To pile in a heap.
  • verb transitive To form or round into a heap, as in measuring.
  • verb transitive To supply in great quantity.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a collection of objects laid on top of each other
  • noun a car that is old and unreliable
  • verb fill to overflow
  • verb bestow in large quantities
  • noun (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
  • verb arrange in stacks

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English hēap.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English heep, from Old English hēap, from Proto-Germanic *haupaz (cf. Dutch hoop, Low German Hupen, German Haufen), from Proto-Indo-European *koupos ‘hill’ (cf. Lithuanian kaũpas, Albanian qipi ‘stack’, Avestan kaofa)

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Examples

  • Of Sinners 'tis said, _They heap up wrath; _ and the sinners of the Last Generations do not only add unto the _heap_ of sin that has been pileing up ever since the Fall of man, but they Interest themselves in every sin of that enormous heap.

    The Wonders of the Invisible World Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England, to which is added A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches Cotton Mather 1695

  • The slush pile, she explained, showing dimples, was what they called the heap of unsolicited manuscripts that dropped through their letter-box day by day.

    Longshot Francis, Dick 1990

  • The slush pile, she explained, showing dimples, was what they called the heap of unsolicited manuscripts that dropped through their letter-box day by day.

    Longshot Francis, Dick 1990

  • Their name for hundred is 'yha,' which means 'heap' -- that is, a heap of cowries.

    Chatterbox, 1906 Various 1873

  • This jaw-dropping heap is the Hyatt Aqualea, a 17-story, 268-unit luxury condo-hotel that opened in February, the last of the Clearwater Beach megaprojects to come on line over the past decade.

    Big Pink Thing « PubliCola 2010

  • Top of the heap is China who executed at least 1,010 people from a population of 1.321 billion - that's a rate almost five times that of the USA.

    Archive 2008-02-01 Not a sheep 2008

  • If, as most believe, the Referendum says 'no' to independence, the Nationalist fox will have been well and truly shot (sorry, subjected to 'exempt hunting'); if it says 'yes' then GB is in heap big trouble.

    Archive 2007-08-12 2007

  • If, as most believe, the Referendum says 'no' to independence, the Nationalist fox will have been well and truly shot (sorry, subjected to 'exempt hunting'); if it says 'yes' then GB is in heap big trouble.

    Referendum News (Scotland Branch) 2007

  • Next, a zesty seasoning mixture of ground chiles, ginger, garlic and green onions, plus other condiments (eg; dried fish or shrimp, for those that like that sort of thing) are added, and the whole heap is left to mature.

    Making Kimchi or Sauerkraut in Mexico 2007

  • At the top of the dung heap is the ECB's chief, Frenchman Jean-Claude Trichet who is calling for "strong vigilance" to stop inflation lodging in the system, and signalling an interest rate rise to 3 percent in August by calling for a full meeting of governors, instead of the usual summer teleconference.

    Berlin will have to decide Richard 2006

Comments

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  • What one does with opprobrium.

    October 26, 2007

  • "In some places a heap of limestone was formerly 4¾ cubic yards." -- Century Dictionary (thanks to ruzuzu!)

    March 5, 2012