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HEAPS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A large number or amount
Example:
she amassed stacks of newspapers
Synonyms:
dozens; gobs; heaps; lashings; loads; lots; oodles; piles; rafts; scads; scores; slews; stacks; tons; wads
Classified under:
Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure
Hypernyms ("heaps" is a kind of...):
large indefinite amount; large indefinite quantity (an indefinite quantity that is above the average in size or magnitude)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Present simple (third person singular) of the verb heap
III. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Very much
Example:
thanks heaps
Classified under:
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Context examples:
Martin, after a few instructions, sorted the great heaps of soiled clothes, while Joe started the masher and made up fresh supplies of soft- soap, compounded of biting chemicals that compelled him to swathe his mouth and nostrils and eyes in bath-towels till he resembled a mummy.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
I covered my head and arms with the skirt of my frock, and went out to walk in a part of the plantation which was quite sequestrated; but I found no pleasure in the silent trees, the falling fir-cones, the congealed relics of autumn, russet leaves, swept by past winds in heaps, and now stiffened together.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Phosphine is among the stinkiest, most toxic gases on Earth, found in some of the foulest of places, including penguin dung heaps, the depths of swamps and bogs, and even in the bowels of some badgers and fish.
(Poisonous Earthly Molecule May Be Sign of Extraterrestrial Life, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Take good care of him for me, Beth, and tell me all about the babies, and give heaps of love to everyone.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
All the heaps of riches in the wureld would be nowt to me (if they was mine) to buy her back!
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
The Wicked Witch was so angry when she saw her black bees in little heaps like fine coal that she stamped her foot and tore her hair and gnashed her teeth.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Thank you all, heaps and heaps!
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
In a breath, the river that flows through our Sunday walks is sparkling in the summer sun, is ruffled by the winter wind, or thickened with drifting heaps of ice.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Her bees and her crows and her wolves were lying in heaps and drying up, and she had used up all the power of the Golden Cap; but if she could only get hold of the Silver Shoes, they would give her more power than all the other things she had lost.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
John is good and wise, he's got heaps of talent, he's willing to work and sure to get on, he's so energetic and brave.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
