Learning / English Dictionary

HEAP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A car that is old and unreliable

Example:

the fenders had fallen off that old bus

Synonyms:

bus; heap; jalopy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("heap" is a kind of...):

auto; automobile; car; machine; motorcar (a motor vehicle with four wheels; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine)

dysphemism (an offensive or disparaging expression that is substituted for an inoffensive one)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A collection of objects laid on top of each other

Synonyms:

agglomerate; cumulation; cumulus; heap; mound; pile

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("heap" is a kind of...):

accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "heap"):

compost heap; compost pile (a heap of manure and vegetation and other organic residues that are decaying to become compost)

dunghill; midden; muckheap; muckhill (a heap of dung or refuse)

scrapheap (pile of discarded metal)

shock (a pile of sheaves of grain set on end in a field to dry; stalks of Indian corn set up in a field)

slagheap (pile of waste matter from coal mining etc)

stack (an orderly pile)

funeral pyre; pyre (wood heaped for burning a dead body as a funeral rite)

woodpile (a pile or stack of wood to be used for fuel)

stockpile (a storage pile accumulated for future use)

Derivation:

heap (arrange in stacks)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent

Example:

a wad of money

Synonyms:

batch; deal; flock; good deal; great deal; hatful; heap; lot; mass; mess; mickle; mint; mountain; muckle; passel; peck; pile; plenty; pot; quite a little; raft; sight; slew; spate; stack; tidy sum; wad

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("heap" is a kind of...):

large indefinite amount; large indefinite quantity (an indefinite quantity that is above the average in size or magnitude)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "heap"):

deluge; flood; inundation; torrent (an overwhelming number or amount)

haymow (a mass of hay piled up in a barn for preservation)

Derivation:

heap (fill to overflow)

heap (bestow in large quantities)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fill to overflow

Example:

heap the platter with potatoes

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "heap" is one way to...):

fill; fill up; make full (make full, also in a metaphorical sense)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They heap the cart with boxes

Derivation:

heap ((often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Arrange in stacks

Example:

stack your books up on the shelves

Synonyms:

heap; pile; stack

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "heap" is one way to...):

arrange; set up (put into a proper or systematic order)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "heap"):

rick (pile in ricks)

cord (stack in cords)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

They heap the books into the box

Also:

heap up (arrange into piles or stacks)

Derivation:

heap (a collection of objects laid on top of each other)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bestow in large quantities

Example:

She heaped scorn upon him

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "heap" is one way to...):

give (transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody with something
Somebody ----s something on somebody

Derivation:

heap ((often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent)

Credits

 Context examples: 

My second sister, my brother's wife, and her two children, they were but ash-heaps in the smoking ruins of their house.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was a sharp crack, and we were in a heap upon the ground with coils of rope all over us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sometimes their feet failed them, and they sank together in a heap; they were then propped up with the monitors' high stools.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And at others, what a heap of absurdities it is!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Then he came in like a fresh-caught fish on a line, clearing the rail generously and striking the deck in a heap, on hands and knees, and rolling over.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Then from the table he took a platter heaped with small pieces of charred bone.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Before a big fire lay Captain Smollett; and in a far corner, only duskily flickered over by the blaze, I beheld great heaps of coin and quadrilaterals built of bars of gold.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He was put into a baggage-car by the master, chained in a corner in the midst of heaped trunks and valises.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

With his mother’s hand in his own, he led us into that ill-omened room where the cards were still heaped upon the sideboard, and the dark shadow lurked in the corner of the ceiling.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At one table, there were traces of chemical work, various measured heaps of some white salt being laid on glass saucers, as though for an experiment in which the unhappy man had been prevented.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)