helper
(ˈhɛlpə(r))
[f. help v. + -er1.]
1. One who (or that which) helps or assists; an auxiliary. (Also with adverbs, as helper-off.)
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter xxix. 11 [xxx. 10] Laverd mi helper made es he. 1382 Wyclif Gen. ii. 20 To Adam forsothe was not foundun an helper like hym. 1494 Fabyan Chron. I. xcix. (R.), Wherfore the kynge sayd after in game, that seynt Martyn was a good helper at nede. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres iv. iii. 110 He hath all the officers of the regiment for helpers. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. iv. 21 It hath fated her to be my motiue And helper to a husband. 1670–98 R. Lassels Voy. Italy I. 104 Gilding, mosaic work, and such like helpers off of bare walls. 1824 L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 145 Must is sometimes called in for a helper, and denotes necessity: as, ‘We must speak the truth’. 1850 Lyte Hymn, ‘Abide with me’ i, When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me. |
2. A person employed to assist in some kind of work; an assistant; spec. a groom's assistant in a stable.
| 1686 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. v. (ed. 3) 94 You must have two or three Helpers, and..see that they..rub him dry all over. 1731 Gentl. Mag. in Hone Every-day Bk. (1827) II. 955 One of the helpers in the king's stables. 1837 Dickens Pickw. ix, Two sleepy helpers put the wrong harness on the wrong horses. 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., Helper up, a lad employed to assist the barrowman out of a dip place. 1892 Labour Commission Gloss., Helpers, the persons in the blast furnace industry who help the keeper to mould the beds, run the metal in, and generally assist at the front of the furnace. |
b. An assistant minister: among the early Methodists, and in Scottish churches. Now colloq.
| 1780 Wesley in Four C. Eng. Lett. 232 You seem not well to have considered the Rules of a Helper, or the rise of Methodism. 1791 ― Wks. (1872) VIII. 309 Q. 25. What is the office of a Helper? A. In the absence of a Minister, to feed and guide the flock. 1849 Mrs. Oliphant Marg. Maitland xii, On that particular Sabbath I can scarce say I got much more from Mr. Wallace himself, the helper. |
3. Hop-growing. (See quot.)
| 1750 W. Ellis Mod. Husb. IV. iii. 60 (E.D.S.) The common number of [hop] poles to each hill are three, but..some add a fourth, called a helper: this helper is a larger pole than the rest. |
Hence ˈhelper v. trans. (Hop-growing), to support with a ‘helper’ (see 3); ˈhelperess (nonce-wd.), a female helper; ˈhelpership, the office or position of a helper.
| 1881 Whitehead Hops 35 The plants are ‘helpered’ by short, slight pieces of old poles up which the bines are trained to go. 1886 H. F. Lester Under two Fig Trees 196 [To] act as a sort of lay helperess. 1893 W. Wallace Scotl. Yesterday 178 His successor in the ‘helpership’ had no objection to his ‘Veesiting’. |
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▸ Immunol. Any of a subset of T lymphocytes that assist in the production of immune responses by generating lymphokines that stimulate antibody secretion by B cells, the development of cytotoxic T cells, and the activation of macrophages. Chiefly attrib., esp. in helper cell, helper T cell.
| [1969 Transplantation Rev. 1 142 This ‘helping’ function of thymus-derived cells requires that they be alive and non-irradiated.] 1970 European Jrnl. Immunol. 1 21/2 ‘Helper cell’ and ‘AFCP’ [= antibody-forming cell precursors]. 1972 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 180 359 Data previously referred to imply that whenever this is precluded by rapid induction of tolerance, either in mandatory helper T cells or in B cells directly..irreversible unresponsiveness will develop which requires cell recruitment for recovery. 1985 Science 2 Aug. 476/3 Clusters that had developed in the presence of specific proteins..generated lymphoblasts with radioresistant carrier-specific helper activity. 1992 Economist 1 Aug. 81/3 Since the mid-1980s work on mice has shown the existence of two job-specific subgroups of helper T-cell, called TH1 and TH2. 1994 Sci. News 20 Aug. 121/1 The lymphocytes made famous by AIDS..are CD4 T helpers, which carry CD4 molecules. 2000 Independent 1 June i. 3/4 During the day we have more ‘killer’ immune cells circulating in our blood; but at night other ‘helper’ cells from the immune system are more active. |