heap

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   fill to overflow

   heap the platter with potatoes

2. 2
   verb

   arrange in stacks

   heap firewood around the fireplace

3. 3
   verb

   bestow in large quantities

   They heaped us with work over the holiday.

4. 4
   noun

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

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

5. 5
   noun

   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

6. 6
   noun

   A great number or large quantity of things.

   a vast heap, both of places of scripture and quotations

7. 7
   noun

   Memory that is dynamically allocated.

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

8. 8
   noun

   A dilapidated place or vehicle.

   My first car was an old heap.

Etymology

From Middle English hepe, from Old English hēap, from Proto-West Germanic *haup, from Proto-Germanic *haupaz (compare Dutch hoop, German Low German Hupen, German Haufen), from Proto-Indo-European *koupos (“hill”) (compare Lithuanian kaũpas, Albanian qipi (“stack”), Avestan 𐬐𐬂𐬟𐬀 (kåfa)).