heap

/hip/

/hip/

Other forms: heaps; heaped; heaping

A great big pile of something is a heap. Your sloppy brother might keep all of his clothes in a heap on his bedroom floor.

A heap can be a literal mound of things — a heap of money in your piggy bank, or a heap of wet towels beside the pool — or it can be a figurative pile. For example, you might worry that if you're caught eating your roommate's pizza you'll be in a heap of trouble. Heap is also a verb, as when you heap compliments on your best friend. Since 1924 heap has also meant "junky old car."

Definitions of heap

1. noun

   a collection of objects laid on top of each other
   synonyms: agglomerate, cumulation, cumulus, mound, pile

   types:

   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

   hayrick, haystack, rick

   a stack of hay

   type of:

   accumulation, aggregation, assemblage, collection

   several things grouped together or considered as a whole
2. noun

   (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
   synonyms: batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, mountain, muckle, passel, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad

   types:

   barrage, deluge, flood, flurry, inundation, torrent

   an overwhelming number or amount

   haymow

   a mass of hay piled up in a barn for preservation

   type of:

   large indefinite amount, large indefinite quantity

   an indefinite quantity that is above the average in size or magnitude
3. verb

   arrange in stacks
   “heap firewood around the fireplace”

   synonyms: pile, stack

   types:

   rick

   pile in ricks

   cord

   stack in cords

   type of:

   arrange, set up

   put into a proper or systematic order
4. verb

   fill to overflow
   “heap the platter with potatoes”

   type of:

   fill, fill up, make full

   make full, also in a metaphorical sense
5. verb

   bestow in large quantities
   “He heaped him with work”

   “She heaped scorn upon him”

   type of:

   give

   transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody
6. noun

   a car that is old and unreliable
   synonyms: bus, clunker, jalopy

   type 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