The true calamus helps coughs.              --Gerarde.
4. To change for the better; to remedy.
         Cease to lament for what thou canst not help.
                                               --Shak.
5. To prevent; to hinder; as, the evil approaches, and who
   can help it? --Swift.
6. To forbear; to avoid.
         I can not help remarking the resemblance betwixt him
         and our author.                       --Pope.
7. To wait upon, as the guests at table, by carving and
   passing food.
{To help forward}, to assist in advancing.
{To help off}, to help to go or pass away, as time; to assist
   in removing. --Locke.
{To help on}, to forward; to promote by aid.
{To help out}, to aid, as in delivering from a difficulty, or
   to aid in completing a design or task.
         The god of learning and of light Would want a god
         himself to help him out.              --Swift.
{To help over}, to enable to surmount; as, to help one over
   an obstacle.
{To help to}, to supply with; to furnish with; as, to help
   one to soup.
{To help up}, to help (one) to get up; to assist in rising,
   as after a fall, and the like. ``A man is well holp up
   that trusts to you.'' --Shak.
Syn: To aid; assist; succor; relieve; serve; support;
     sustain; befriend.
Usage: To {Help}, {Aid}, {Assist}. These words all agree in
       the idea of affording relief or support to a person
       under difficulties. Help turns attention especially to
       the source of relief. If I fall into a pit, I call for
       help; and he who helps me out does it by an act of his
       own. Aid turns attention to the other side, and
       supposes co["o]peration on the part of him who is
       relieved; as, he aided me in getting out of the pit; I
       got out by the aid of a ladder which he brought.
       Assist has a primary reference to relief afforded by a
       person who ``stands by'' in order to relieve. It
       denotes both help and aid. Thus, we say of a person
       who is weak, I assisted him upstairs, or, he mounted
       the stairs by my assistance. When help is used as a
       noun, it points less distinctively and exclusively to
       the source of relief, or, in other words, agrees more
       closely with aid. Thus we say, I got out of a pit by
       the help of my friend.

   What was that scream for, I prithee?        --L'Estrange.
   Prithee, tell me, Dimple-chin.              --E. C.
                                               Stedman.

   The number slain on the rebel's part were some two
   thousand.                                   --Bacon.
5. Considerable in number or quality. ``Bore us some leagues
   to sea.'' --Shak.
         On its outer point, some miles away. The lighthouse
         lifts its massive masonry.            --Longfellow.
6. Certain; those of one part or portion; -- in distinct from
   other or others; as, some men believe one thing, and
   others another.
         Some [seeds] fell among thorns; . . . but other fell
         into good ground.                     --Matt. xiii.
                                               7, 8.
7. A part; a portion; -- used pronominally, and followed
   sometimes by of; as, some of our provisions.
         Your edicts some reclaim from sins, But most your
         life and blest example wins.          --Dryden.
{All and some}, one and all. See under {All}, adv. [Obs.]
Note: The illiterate in the United States and Scotland often
      use some as an adverb, instead of somewhat, or an
      equivalent expression; as, I am some tired; he is some
      better; it rains some, etc.
{Some . . . some}, one part . . . another part; these . . .
   those; -- used distributively.
         Some to the shores do fly, Some to the woods, or
         whither fear advised.                 --Daniel.
Note: Formerly used also of single persons or things: this
      one . . . that one; one . . . another.
            Some in his bed, some in the deep sea. --Chaucer.

Syn: Looker-on; beholder; observer; witness.