heap

plural heaps

1. A crowd; a throng; a multitude or great number of people.

   He had plenty of friends, heaps of friends in the parliamentary sense

   1858, Anthony Trollope, Doctor Thorne. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   A Heap of Vassals, and Slaues: […] A People that is without Naturall Affection, […] A Nation without Morality, without Letters, Arts, or Sciences

   1622 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “An Advertisement Touching an Holy Warre. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC, page 104

2. A pile or mass; a collection of things laid in a body, or thrown together so as to form an elevation.

   a heap of earth; a heap of stones

   2 more examples

   Huge heaps of slain around the body rise.

   1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   Every break seemed dangerous and Falcao clearly had the beating of Amorebieta. Others, being forced to stretch a foot behind them to control Arda Turan's 34th-minute cross, might simply have lashed a shot on the turn; Falcao, though, twisted back on to his left foot, leaving Amorebieta in a heap, and thumped in an inevitable finish – his 12th goal in 15 European matches this season.

   2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian

3. A great number or large quantity of things.

   I have noticed a heap of things in my life.

   1878, Robert Louis Stevenson, Will o' the Mill

   1 more example

   a vast heap, both of places of scripture and quotations

   1679, Gilbert Burnet, The History of the Reformation of the Church of England

4. computingA data structure consisting of trees in which each node is greater than all its children.
5. computingMemory that is dynamically allocated.

   You should move these structures from the stack to the heap to avoid a potential stack overflow.

6. colloquialA dilapidated place or vehicle.

   My first car was an old heap.

   1 more example

   Chuffy: It's on a knife edge at the moment, Bertie. If he can get planning permission, old Stoker's going to take this heap off my hands in return for vast amounts of oof.

   1991 May 12, “Kidnapped!”, in Jeeves and Wooster, Series 2, Episode 5

7. colloquialA lot, a large amount.

   Thanks a heap!

   1 more example

   [W]e went to the play, and Pen was struck all of a heap with Miss Fotheringay … And he’s fallen in love with her—and I’m blessed if he hasn’t proposed to her […]

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 10, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

present singular third person heaps · participle present heaping · participle past heaped · past heaped

1. transitiveTo pile in a heap.

   He heaped the laundry upon the bed and began folding.

   Synonyms: amass

2. transitiveTo form or round into a heap, as in measuring.

   Cry a reward, to him who shall first bring News of that vanished Arabian, A full-heap’d helmet of the purest gold.

   1819, John Keats, Otho the Great, act I, scene II, verses 40-42

3. transitiveTo supply in great quantity.

   They heaped praise upon their newest hero.

   2 more examples

   Thanks for heaping superlatives on my latest performance.

   Then, in January, a creeping tsunami of train cancellations, triggered by major staff absences as a result of the aggressive transmissibility of Omicron, heaped further misery on rail users.

   2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3

1. not comparableoffensivepossiblyvery or much; representing broken English stereotypically or comically attributed to Native Americans

   Chuckaway too no good. Heap water, little chuckaway. Heap sticks, and still little chuckaway.

   1895, Annie Maria Barnes, Matouchon: A Story of Indian Child Life, page 175

   2 more examples

   We are all familiar with the stereotyped broken English which writers of Western stories, comic strips, and similar literature put into the mouths of Indians: 'me heap big chief', 'you like um fire water', and so forth.

   1980, Joey Lee Dillard, Perspectives on American English, page 417

   Once upon a time, a Scotsman, an Englishman, and an Irishman are captured by the Red Indians […] He approaches the Englishman, pinches the skin of his upper arm, and says, "Hmmm, heap good skin, nice and thick.

   2004, John Robert Colombo, The Penguin Book of Canadian Jokes, page 175

1. A surname.

plural HEAPs

1. abbreviationacronymgovernmentAcronym of high explosive armor-piercing.