helper

name

1. A city in Carbon County, Utah, United States, which got its name from the practice of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad of attaching helper engines to trains there.
2. A surname; variant of Halpern or Helfer.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English helpere, from Old English *helpere, from Proto-West Germanic *helpārī (“helper”), equivalent to help + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hälper (“helper”), West Frisian helper (“helper”), Dutch helper (“helper”), German Low German Helper (“helper”), German Helfer (“helper”), Danish hjælper (“helper”), Swedish hjälpare (“helper”), Icelandic hjálpar (“helper”).

1. One who helps; an aide; assistant; auxiliary.
2. That which helps; anything serving to assist.

   “While Adobe's Acrobat Reader, Macromedia's Flash player, and other common plug-ins suggest themselves the moment you encounter a site that requires them, other browser helpers are harder to find.”

   “He no longer liked food that had “helper” in the name, such as Hamburger Helper and Tuna Helper. Patsy said he'd become uppity, and maybe, when it came to food, he had.”

3. A person who does cleaning and cooking in a family home, or in a market; domestic employee.
4. A locomotive that assists a train, usually on steep gradients.

   “A device for the automatic control of crewless helper locomotives cut into the make-up of heavy freight trains has been perfected by the Louisville & Nashville RR in conjunction with the General Railway Signalling Co.”

5. A stimulating pill, especially amphetamine.

   “And I routinely took more “helpers” when I woke up in order to maintain the fast pace and, more importantly, to study for my final exams.”