Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- v. Archaic A past tense of help.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- v. Simple past of help.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- imp. & p. p. of help.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- The antiquated preterit and past participle of help.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Examples
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Just as genes and organisms undergo natural selection, words—specifically, irregular verbs such as “holp” that do not take an -ed ending in the past tense—are subject to powerful pressure to “regularize” as the language develops.
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Is that odd-looking “holp” an archaic word or a spelling mistake?
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In turns out that “holp” was the past tense of “help” when Shakespeare wrote these words sometime between 1589 and 1594.
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May 11, 2009 at 9:47 am holp holp holp! cow-werkers are talkin poly-ticks!
The trap… - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
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June 11th, 2006 at 6:16 pm punaise, punaise, halp – help – holp!
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And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him
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For my brother, I think he holds you well, and in dearness of heart hath holp to effect your ensuing marriage; — surely suit ill spent and labour ill bestowed.
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You had musty victual, and he hath holp to eat it: he is a very valiant trencherman; he hath an excellent stomach.
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How Sir Launcelot rode on his adventure, and how he holp a dolorous lady from her pain, and how that he fought with a dragon.
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Then they swore it should be done, and so passed forth Sir Launcelot, and each one of the brethren holp other as well as they might.
bilby commented on the word holp
"COMINIUS: You have holp to ravish your own daughters, and
To melt the city leads upon your pates;
To see your wives dishonour'd to your noses..."
- William Shakespeare, 'The Tragedy of Coriolanus'.
August 29, 2009