stack
Americannoun
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stacks
plural
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a more or less orderly pile or heap.
a precariously balanced stack of books;
a neat stack of papers.
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a large, usually conical, circular, or rectangular pile of hay, straw, or the like (often used in combination).
There was a strawstack in the corner of the field that the children liked to climb.
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Informal. a large quantity or number.
We've got a stack of great ideas for new projects, so I'm feeling optimistic about work.
There are stacks of family fun to be had at our newly renovated amusement park.
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Often stacks. a set of shelves for books or other materials ranged compactly one above the other, as in a library.
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stacks, the area or part of a library in which the books and other holdings are stored or kept.
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Computers.
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a data structure programmed to consist of elements added one at a time and only removable one at a time in order of recency.
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a data set or list arranged in this way, so that the last item stored is the first item retrieved or removed.
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memory dedicated to temporary storage of data arranged this way.
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a number of chimneys or flues grouped together.
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a vertical duct for conveying warm air from a leader to a register on an upper story of a building.
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a vertical waste pipe or vent pipe serving a number of floors.
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Slang. a large quantity of money, especially one thousand dollars.
He spent two stacks on those jeans.
A high-quality computer may cost a stack, but it'll last you longer than a cheap one.
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Radio. an antenna consisting of a number of components connected in a substantially vertical series.
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Military. a conical, free-standing group of three rifles placed on their butts and hooked together near the top of the barrel with an attached swivel.
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Also called stackup, air stack. Aviation. a group of airplanes circling over an airport awaiting their turns to land.
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an English measure for coal and wood, equal to 108 cubic feet (3 cu. m).
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Geology. a column of rock isolated from a shore by the action of waves.
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Games.
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a given quantity of chips that can be bought at one time, as in poker or other gambling games.
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the quantity of chips held by a player at a given point in a gambling game.
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verb (used with object)
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stacks,
present (3rd person singular)
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stacked,
past participle, past
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stacking
present participle
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to pile, arrange, or place in a more or less orderly heap.
I spent all yesterday loading and stacking hay bales by hand.
She stacked her papers and put away her tools, then got ready to leave.
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to cover or load with something in stacks or piles.
We stacked the car with luggage and headed out on our road trip.
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to arrange or select unfairly in order to force a desired result, especially to load (a jury, committee, etc.) with members having a biased viewpoint.
The lawyer charged that the jury had been stacked against his client.
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to keep (a number of incoming airplanes) flying nearly circular patterns at various altitudes over an airport where crowded runways, a low ceiling, or other temporary conditions prevent immediate landings.
verb (used without object)
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stacks,
present (3rd person singular)
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stacked,
past participle, past
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stacking
present participle
verb phrase
idioms
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stack the deck,
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to arrange cards or a pack of cards so as to cheat.
He stacked the deck and won every hand.
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to manipulate events, information, etc., especially unethically, in order to achieve an advantage or desired result.
Most players in the sport are amateurs, so having a professionally trained team member could really stack the deck in their favor.
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blow one's stack, to lose one's temper or become uncontrollably angry, especially to display one's fury, as by shouting.
When he came in and saw the mess he blew his stack.
noun
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an ordered pile or heap
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a large orderly pile of hay, straw, etc, for storage in the open air
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(often plural) library science compactly spaced bookshelves, used to house collections of books in an area usually prohibited to library users
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a number of aircraft circling an airport at different altitudes, awaiting their signal to land
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a large amount
a stack of work
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military a pile of rifles or muskets in the shape of a cone
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a measure of coal or wood equal to 108 cubic feet
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a vertical pipe, such as the funnel of a ship or the soil pipe attached to the side of a building
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a high column of rock, esp one isolated from the mainland by the erosive action of the sea
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an area in a computer memory for temporary storage
verb
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to place in a stack; pile
to stack bricks on a lorry
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to load or fill up with piles of something
to stack a lorry with bricks
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to control (a number of aircraft waiting to land at an airport) so that each flies at a different altitude
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to prearrange the order of a pack of cards secretly so that the deal will benefit someone
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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stackernoun
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restackverb (used with object)
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stackableadjective
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stacklessadjective
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unstackadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stacksimple
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stackssimple
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have stackedperfect
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has stackedperfect
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am stackingprogressive
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are stackingprogressive
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is stackingprogressive
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have been stackingperfect progressive
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has been stackingperfect progressive
Past
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stackedsimple
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had stackedperfect
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was stackingprogressive
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were stackingprogressive
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had been stackingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stack
First recorded in 1250–1300; (for the noun) Middle English stak from Old Norse stakkr “haystack”; verb derivative of the noun
Explanation
A stack is a tidy pile, like the stack of books on your nightstand or the stack of pancakes on your plate at breakfast. You can also use stack as a verb meaning "to arrange in piles." If you stack the dollar bills you earned from your lemonade stand, you'll eventually have a stack of dollar bills. Unlike the similar word pile, stack implies a neat, orderly bundle, rather than a messy, haphazard one. When someone "stacks the deck," they cheat in order to achieve the outcome they want—sometimes literally, by arranging a deck of cards unfairly.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It’s just before the midweek lunch rush at Langer’s Deli and owner Norm Langer is behind the already-busy sandwich counter inspecting a stack of newly sliced rye bread.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
The company said its new models for Western markets will use existing computing platforms and car architectures, which will allow investments in its technology stack and manufacturing to decline from current levels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Alphabet is uniquely positioned across the entire AI tech stack, spanning from its custom chips to distribution surfaces like YouTube and Android.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
Could you stack 12 cups in under two seconds to become a European champ?
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
A stern woman in a red sweater drops a new stack of Enigma messages into the tray on my desk.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
That stacks up for a £4m keeper, you might think.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
As the long-haired tomboy wandered the stacks, the library’s spirits recognized that she was an old soul with a taste for nostalgia.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Big SaaS companies are firmly entrenched within customers’ IT stacks, frequently through tangled connections with software from rival providers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
My $1,330.13 was, in other words, the accumulated sticker price of my particular trail through the stacks.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
The fortune-teller nods and stacks the three piles of cards back into one deck, leaving Bailey’s chosen cards on top.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
The containers are now stacked close to homes in southwestern town of Vrine.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
Soon the menus are stacked, the pebbled Coke cups are sweating rings onto the table and somebody is pointing with a chip while saying, “No, no, tell her the part about —”
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
The Parnia had been stranded there since July when it returned from China stacked with containers, according to ship-tracking data.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
When police were called to investigate, they found more than 800 devices, packaged in batches of five, stacked into nine boxes, some wrapped in foil, others in bubble wrap.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
She handed me the rest of my books and belongings, and I quickly stacked them on the shelf.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
The company makes autonomous industrial robots aimed at automating repetitive manual tasks like stacking pallets and weighing raw materials.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
But stacking a federal tax credit on top of the newly bolstered California production incentives could help give the state an edge when producers are pricing out location shoots, industry experts say.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
The researchers used an HI spectral stacking method to combine radio signals that would have been too faint to detect individually.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
But investing is about stacking probabilities in your favor.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
What they had in common is what kept them apart Mr. Paul had told me to use my head, so I started stacking up the positives against the negatives.
From "Mississippi Trial, 1955" by Chris Crowe
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
