heap

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hepe, also heep,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English hēap (“pile; great number, crowd”),^[5][6][7][8] inherited from Proto-West Germanic *haup,^[4] inherited from Proto-Germanic *haupaz.^[4][6][5] The verb is hepen, hēapian, formed from the noun.^[6][7][2] The noun is cognate with Old Frisian hāp, Old Saxon hōp, Dutch hoop and Old High German houf;^{[7][6][9][10]} Old Norse hópr was borrowed from Low German.^[7] It stands in ablaut with Middle Low German hūpe and hūfo, the source of German Haufen.^[7][8][9] Outside Germanic, Lithuanian kaũpas (“heap”) and Avestan kaofa- are compared;^{[11][3][10][4]} Kroonen derives the Germanic noun from Proto-Indo-European *kouHp-nó-,^[10] and Barnhart gives Proto-Indo-European *kou-b-.^[6] The further origin is uncertain:^[5] some relate it to high,^[6][2][5] the OED compares Latin cubō (“to lie down”),^[7][5] and Boutkan thinks it probably not Indo-European at all.^[5] The Dutch word is the source of the second element of forlorn hope.^[11][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pile of things; also a great number of people, a crowd or multitude: Old English hēap, recorded from about 725 in Barnhart,^[6] first in the Corpus Glossary in the OED.^[7] Barnhart dates Middle English hep to probably before 1200; the spelling with ea began to appear after 1520.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old English used the word both for a pile of things and for a company of people; the sense "host, multitude", an early sense in the Germanic languages, has died out except in the later sense "a great quantity".^[7][5] The plural heaps for "a lot" is recorded from before 1547, in the Earl of Surrey, and the singular from before 1661;^[7] Hoad dates the colloquial singular to the 17th century and the plural to the 16th.^[8] American English used a heap adverbially for "a great deal" from before 1834,^[7][12] while writers used heap in imitating the English of Native Americans from 1832.^[7][5] A slovenly woman was a heap from 1806,^[7][5] and an old car from 1926 in the OED, from 1924 in Etymonline.^[7][5] Weekley notes that all of a heap replaced earlier all on a heap, used by Shakespeare, from Old English on heape.^[13] In Northumberland a heap was the pile of excavated material at the top of a pit.^[14] In Australia give them heaps means to play hard against another team, and in New Zealand give it heaps means to try very hard.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English hēap, pile, great number.^[6]
• c. 900 – the verb, Old English hēapian.^[6]
• c. 1175 – figurative, of things immaterial (Ormulum).^[7]
• before 1547 – plural heaps, a large number.^[7]
• 1574 – verb, to bestow in heaps (upon).^[7]
• 1582 – verb, to load a person with something.^[7]
• before 1661 – singular, a great deal.^[7]
• 1806 – a slovenly woman.^[7]
• before 1834 – adverb, a great deal (US).^[7][12]
• 1926 – a battered old car.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A collection of things lying one on top of another; a pile: a heap of dirty laundry.^[15][2][7]
2. (informal, often plural) A large number or amount; a lot: We have heaps of time.^[15][2][7]
3. (informal) An old, untidy or unreliable thing or place, especially a battered car.^[15][7]
4. (obsolete) A great company of people; a multitude.^[7][8]

Adverb

1. heaps (informal): very much, a lot: She is feeling heaps better.^[15][7]

Verb

1. To put things into a heap; to pile up or accumulate: He heaped the leaves by the fence.^[15][2][7]
2. To fill or load something with a heap: a plate heaped with rice.^[2][7]
3. To give something lavishly or in large amounts, as praise or blame: The critics heaped scorn on the play.^[2][7]

Word family

• heaper
• dustheap
• scrapheap
• overheap

Related words

• forlorn hope
• howitzer

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins