Meaning: domestic help

n.
a servant who is paid to perform menial tasks around the household

help Idiom, Proverb

a helping hand

help with a job or task, lend a hand May was always ready with a helping hand.

beyond help

lost, cannot be saved Some addicts are beyond help. They don't want to be helped.

can help it

can stop it, can prevent it Abortion won't become legal if he can help it. He's against it.

can't help

cannot prevent, cannot stop I can't help crying at weddings. They make me feel sad.

heaven help us

we are facing a crisis, we need a lot of help Heaven help us if we have an accident with Dad's Mercedes.

help out

help someone, lend a hand The Wongs are good neighbors - always willing to help out.

help yourself

please take some, dig in, eat up Help yourself to hamburgers. Don't wait to be served.

helping hand

(See a helping hand)

so help me

I promise, I swear "So help me, if you don

the Lord helps those who help themselves

if you work to help yourself God will help you If you pray, remember, the Lord helps those who help themselves.

cannot help

can't avoid doing sth．；have no control over 不得不，禁不住（与cannot but同义，但help后要接动名词，but后接动词原形）
We cannot help admiring his learning．我们不得不佩服他的学识。
After hearing the joke，we cannot help laughing．听到这个笑话，我们禁不住大笑起来。

help on

Promote by aid助成；促进
Your support helped them on to victory．你的支持促进了他们去争取胜利。
What you have said today will help us on very much，I'm sure．我相信你今天讲的对我们将是一个很大的促进。
help oneself（to）
serve oneself with（food and drink）；take what is needed or what one wants自己随便吃；自取（所需）
Please help yourself to anything you like．请随便吃你所喜欢的东西。
He helped himself freely to the furniture of the house．他随便地使用房间里的家俱。

help over

aid in surmounting帮忙度过
He is in need of friends to help him over a difficulty．他需要朋友们帮忙度过一个难关。
Thank you for helping me over that difficult matter．谢谢你帮助我摆脱了那个困难的事情。

help up

help sb．to get up；assist in rising；help sb．to take sth．up扶起某人；帮某人把某物搬上去
He rushed to halp the old man up when he slipped on the ice．老人在冰上滑倒时，他跑过去把他扶了起来。
Please Help me up with this heavy case．请帮我把这沉重的箱子搬上去。
helped up encumbered妨碍；打扰；拖累
I couldn't run to catch the bus，as I was helped up with a lot of parcels．我赶不上公共汽车，因为许多包袱拖累着我。

pitch in and help

Idiom(s): pitch in (and help)

Theme: HELPFULNESS

to get busy and help (with something).
• Pick up a paintbrush and pitch in and help.
• Why don't some of you pitch in? We need all the help we can get.

not lift a finger to help

Idiom(s): not lift a finger (to help someone) AND not lift a hand (to help someone)

Theme: HELPFULNESS - LACKING

to do nothing to help someone. (The someone is anyone in the negative.)
• They wouldn't lift a finger to help us.
• Can you imagine that they wouldn't lift a finger?
• Sally refused to lift a hand to help her own sister.

not able to / can't help

Idiom(s): not able to/can't help sth

Theme: CONTROL - DIMINISH

unable to prevent or control something. (Not able to is often expressed as can't.)
• I'm sorry about being late. I wasn't able to help it.
• Bob can't help being boring.

help oneself

Idiom(s): help oneself

Theme: USE

to take whatever one wants or needs.
• Please have some candy. Help yourself.
• When you go to a cafeteria, you help yourself to the food.
• Bill helped himself to dessert.

can't help but do

Idiom(s): can't help but do sth

Theme: MOTIVATION

[to be] unable to choose any but one course of action. (Also with cannot.)
• Her parents live nearby, so she can't help but go there on holidays.
• Bob is a tennis fan and can't help but travel to Wimbledon each year.

not lift a hand to help

help oneself|help

v. phr. To take what you want; take rather than ask or wail to be given. Help yourself to another piece of pie. John helped himself to some candy without asking.

help out|help

v. 1. To be helpful or useful; help sometimes or somewhat. Mr. Smith helps out with the milking on the farm. Tom helps out in the store after school. 2. To help (someone) especially in a time of need; aid; assist. Jane is helping out Mother by minding the baby. When John couldn't add the numbers, the teacher helped him out.

so help me|help|so

interj., informal I promise; I swear; may I be punished if I lie. I've told you the truth, so help me. So help me, there was nothing else I could do.

every little bit helps

every little bit helps
Any contribution can be useful, as in He can only give us one day, but every little bit helps. This expression, with slightly different wording (everything helps), dates from the late 1500s.

help

help
In addition to the idioms beginning with help, also see can't but; every little bit helps; not if one can help it; so help me.
* * *
- help oneself
- help out
- helping hand

not if one can help it

not if one can help it
Only without one's agreement, only if one cannot prevent it. For example, Is he taking a second job?—Not if his wife can help it, or He's not riding on the back of that motorcycle, not if I can help it. This idiom uses help in the sense of “prevent” or “cause to be otherwise.” [Mid-1800s]

More Idioms/Phrases

not have a clue not have an earthly chance not have anything on not have it not have one's heart in it not have the heart to not having any not if one can help it not if you paid me not know beans not know someone from Adam not let the grass grow under one's feet