aid
[eyd]
- to provide support for or relief to; help: to aid the homeless victims of the fire.
- to promote the progress or accomplishment of; facilitate.
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- to give help or assistance.
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- help or support; assistance.
- a person or thing that aids or furnishes assistance; helper; auxiliary.
- aids, Manège.
- Also called natural aids.the means by which a rider communicates with and controls a horse, as the hands, legs, voice, and shifts in weight.
- Also called artificial aids.the devices by means of which a rider increases control of a horse, as spurs, whip, and martingale.
- aide-de-camp.
- foreign aid.
- a payment made by feudal vassals to their lord on special occasions.
- English History. (after 1066) any of several revenues received by a king in the Middle Ages from his vassals and other subjects, limited by the Magna Charta to specified occasions.
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Origin of aid
1375–1425; (noun) late Middle English ayde < Anglo-French, Old French aide, noun derivative of aid(i)er < Latin adjūtāre to help (frequentative of adjuvāre), equivalent to ad- ad- + -jū- help + -t- frequentative suffix + -āre infinitive suffix; (v.) < Anglo-French, Old French aid(i)er < Latin, as above
Synonyms
See more synonyms for aid on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
2. hinder, frustrate.
Usage note
Although the nouns aid and aide both have among their meanings “an assisting person,” the spelling aide is increasingly used for the sense “helper, assistant”: One of the senator's aides is calling. Aide in military use is short for aide-de-camp. It is also the spelling in nurse's aide.
AID
[eyd]
- the division of the United States International Development Cooperation Agency that coordinates the various foreign aid programs with U.S. foreign policy: established in 1961.
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Origin of AID
A(gency for) I(nternational) D(evelopment)
AID
- American Institute of Decorators.
- American Institute of Interior Designers.
- Also A.I.D. British. artificial insemination donor.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for aid
Contemporary Examples
After all, smaller developing nations like Cameroon often depend on trade with and aid from the West.
Followers had traveled many miles to mourn the loss, and aid in the ritual washing, dressing, and honoring of the body.
But that comes too late for the family of an American aid worker killed by ISIS.
The woman was taken in August 2013, along with a group of other aid workers who have reportedly been released.
I remember the days of the Bosnian war (1992—1995), when Saudi Arabia sent convoys of aid to those besieged in Sarajevo.
Saudi Activist Manal Al-Sharif on Why She Removed the VeilManal Al Sharif, Advancing Human Rights
October 30, 2014
Historical Examples
The poor dog heard the tumult, and leapt to your aid, sir, and we made after him.
The Armourer's PrenticesCharlotte M. Yonge
This operation is performed by a female, with the aid of a stamp.
The Story of the Invention of Steel PensHenry Bore
This operation is performed by the aid of a punch and die fitted into a screw-press.
The Story of the Invention of Steel PensHenry Bore
This process is performed by girls, with the aid of what is called a “bob” or “glazer.”
The Story of the Invention of Steel PensHenry Bore
And not a hand lifted to aid him while he went to work with the bandaging.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
aid
- to give support to (someone to do something); help or assist
- (tr) to assist financially
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- assistance; help; support
- a person, device, etc, that helps or assistsa teaching aid
- Also: artificial aid mountaineering any of various devices such as piton or nut when used as a direct help in the ascent
- (in medieval Europe; in England after 1066) a feudal payment made to the king or any lord by his vassals, usually on certain occasions such as the marriage of a daughter or the knighting of an eldest son
- in aid of British informal in support of; for the purpose of
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Word Origin
C15: via Old French aidier from Latin adjūtāre to help, from juvāre to help
Aid
-aid
- denoting a charitable organization or function that raises money for a causeBand Aid; Ferryaid
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AID
- acute infectious disease
- artificial insemination (by) donor: former name for Donor Insemination (DI)
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for aid
n.
early 15c., "wartime tax," also "help, support, assistance," from Old French aide, earlier aiudha "aid, help, assistance" (9c.), from Late Latin adjuta, from fem. past participle of Latin adiuvare (past participle adiutus) "to give help to," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + iuvare "to help" (see adjutant). Meaning "thing by which assistance is given" is recorded from c.1600. Meaning "material help given by one country to another" is from 1940.
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v.
c.1400, "to assist, help," from Old French aidier "help, assistance," from Latin adiutare, frequentative of adiuvare (past participle adiutus) "give help to" (see adjutant). Related: Aided; aiding.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
AID
- artificial insemination donor
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.