Stack

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Stack, n. [Icel. stakkr; akin to Sw. stack, Dan. stak. Cf. Stake.].

•  A large and to some degree orderly pile of hay, grain, straw, or the like, usually of a nearly conical form, but sometimes rectangular or oblong, contracted at the top to a point or ridge, and sometimes covered with thatch.  [1913 Webster]

  "But corn was housed, and beans were in the stack."  [1913 Webster]
•  An orderly pile of any type of object, indefinite in quantity; -- used especially of piles of wood. A stack is usually more orderly than a pile  [1913 Webster]

  "Against every pillar was a stack of billets above a man's height."  [1913 Webster]
•  A pile of wood containing 108 cubic feet.  [1913 Webster]
•  A large quantity; as, a stack of cash.  [PJC]
•  A number of flues embodied in one structure, rising above the roof.  [1913 Webster]
•  A section of memory in a computer used for temporary storage of data, in which the last datum stored is the first retrieved.  [PJC]
•  The section of a library containing shelves which hold books less frequently requested.  [PJC]

Stack of arms (Mil.), a number of muskets or rifles set up together, with the bayonets crossing one another, forming a sort of conical self-supporting pile. -- to blow one's stacks to become very angry and lose one's self-control, and especially to display one's fury by shouting.

Stack, v. t. [Cf. Sw. stacka, Dan. stakke. See Stack, n.].

•  To lay in a conical or other pile; to make into a large pile; as, to stack hay, cornstalks, or grain; to stack or place wood.  [1913 Webster]
•  To place in a vertical arrangement so that each item in a pile is resting on top of another item in the pile, except for the bottom item; as, to stack the papers neatly on the desk; to stack the bricks.  [PJC]
•  To select or arrange dishonestly so as to achieve an unfair advantage; as, to stack a deck of cards; to stack a jury with persons prejudiced against the defendant.  [PJC]

To stack arms (Mil.), to set up a number of muskets or rifles together, with the bayonets crossing one another, and forming a sort of conical pile.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Stack, n. & v.
--n.
1 a pile or heap, esp. in orderly arrangement.
2 a circular or rectangular pile of hay, straw, etc., or of grain in sheaf, often with a sloping thatched top, a rick.
3 colloq. a large quantity (a stack of work; has stacks of money).
4 a = chimney-stack. b = SMOKESTACK. c a tall factory chimney.
5 a stacked group of aircraft.
6 (also stack-room) a part of a library where books are compactly stored, esp. one to which the public does not have direct access.
7 Brit. a high detached rock esp. off the coast of Scotland and the Orkneys.
8 a pyramidal group of rifles, a pile.
9 Computing a set of storage locations which store data in such a way that the most recently stored item is the first to be retrieved.
10 Brit. a measure for a pile of wood of 108 cu. ft. (30.1 cubic metres).
--v.tr.
1 pile in a stack or stacks.
2 a arrange (cards) secretly for cheating. b manipulate (circumstances etc.) to one's advantage.
3 cause (aircraft) to fly round the same point at different levels while waiting to land at an airport.

Idiom

stack arms hist. = pile arms. stack up US colloq. present oneself, measure up. stack-yard an enclosure for stacks of hay, straw, etc.

Derivative

stackable adj. stacker n.

Etymology

ME f. ON stakkr haystack f. Gmc

THESAURUS

Stack

abundance, accumulate, accumulation, add up, adulterate, agglomerate, agglomeration, aggregate, aggregation, agree, amass, amassment, amount, anger, anthill, archives, armory, array, arsenal, atelier, attic, backlog, bag, bale, bank, bank up, barrel, basement, batch, bay, bin, bonded warehouse, book end, book support, book table, book tray, book truck, bookcase, bookholder, bookrack, bookrest, bookshelf, bookstack, bookstand, bottle, box, budget, bundle, bunker, burden, buttery, can, cargo dock, cellar, check out, chest, chimney, clamp, closet, cock, collect, collection, commissariat, commissary, compare, conservatory, considerable, cook, cornucopia, crate, crib, cumulation, cupboard, deal, deposit, depository, depot, dock, doctor, drawer, drift, dump, dune, embankment, exchequer, fake, fill, flue, flue pipe, folder, folio, freight, fumarole, funnel, glory hole, gobs, godown, good deal, great deal, haycock, haymow, hayrick, haystack, heap, heap up, heaps, hill, hoard, hold, host, hutch, inventory, jibe, juggle, lade, larder, lashings, library, load, loads, locker, loft, lot, lots, lumber room, lumberyard, magasin, magazine, make sense, manipulate, mass, material, materials, materiel, measure up, mess, mint, molehill, mound, mountain, mow, multitude, munitions, number, office, oodles, pack, pack away, peck, pile, pile up, piles, plant, plenitude, plenty, pocket, portfolio, pot, profusion, provisionment, provisions, pyramid, quantity, quite a little, rack, raft, rafts, rage, rant, rations, repertoire, repertory, repository, reservoir, retouch, revolving bookcase, rick, rig, sack, sail loft, salt, scads, sea, shelf, ship, sight, slew, slews, smokeshaft, smokestack, snowdrift, sophisticate, spate, squirrel away, stack room, stack up, stacks, stash, stock, stock room, stock-in-trade, stockpile, storage, store, storehouse, storeroom, stores, stovepipe, stow, studio, study, supplies, supply, supply base, supply depot, supply on hand, swarm, tamper with, tank, throng, tidy sum, treasure, treasure house, treasure room, treasury, vat, vault, volume, wad, wads, warehouse, whole slew, wine cellar, workroom

ROGET THESAURUS

Stack

Store

N store, stock, fund, mine, vein, lode, quarry, spring, fount, fountain, well, wellspring, milch cow, stock in trade, supply, heap, treasure, reserve, corps de reserve, reserved fund, nest egg, savings, bonne bouche, crop, harvest, mow, vintage, store, accumulation, hoard, rick, stack, lumber, relay, storehouse, storeroom, storecloset, depository, depot, cache, repository, reservatory, repertory, repertorium, promptuary, warehouse, entrepot, magazine, buttery, larder, spence, garner, granary, cannery, safe-deposit vault, stillroom, thesaurus, bank, armory, arsenal, dock, gallery, museum, conservatory, menagery, menagerie, reservoir, cistern, aljibar, tank, pond, mill pond, gasometer, budget, quiver, bandolier, portfolio, coffer, conservation, storing, storage, keep, file (papers), lay in, preserve, Adj, stored, in store, in reserve, in ordinary, spare, supernumerary, adde parvum parvo magnus acervus erit.

VB store, put by, lay by, set by, stow away, set apart, lay apart, store treasure, hoard treasure, lay up, heap up, put up, garner up, save up, bank, cache, accumulate, amass, hoard, fund, garner, save, reserve, keep back, hold back, husband, husband one's resources, deposit, stow, stack, load, harvest, heap, collect, lay in store Adj, keep, file (papers), lay in, preserve.

Assemblage

N assemblage, collection, collocation, colligation, compilation, levy, gathering, ingathering, muster, attroupement, team, concourse, conflux, congregation, contesseration, convergence, meeting, levee, reunion, drawing room, at home, conversazione, assembly, congress, convention, conventicle, gemote, conclave, posse, posse comitatus, Noah's ark, miscellany, collectanea, museum, menagerie, museology, crowd, throng, group, flood, rush, deluge, rabble, mob, press, crush, cohue, horde, body, tribe, crew, gang, knot, squad, band, party, swarm, shoal, school, covey, flock, herd, drove, atajo, bunch, drive, force, mulada, remuda, roundup, array, bevy, galaxy, corps, company, troop, troupe, task force, army, regiment, host, populousness, clan, brotherhood, fraternity, sorority, association, volley, shower, storm, cloud, group, cluster, Pleiades, clump, pencil, set, batch, lot, pack, budget, assortment, bunch, parcel, packet, package, bundle, fascine, fasces, bale, seron, seroon, fagot, wisp, truss, tuft, shock, rick, fardel, stack, sheaf, haycock, fascicle, fascicule, fasciculus, gavel, hattock, stook, accumulation, congeries, heap, lump, pile, rouleau, tissue, mass, pyramid, bing, drift, snowball, snowdrift, acervation, cumulation, glomeration, agglomeration, conglobation, conglomeration, conglomerate, coacervate, coacervation, coagmentation, aggregation, concentration, congestion, omnium gaterum, spicilegium, black hole of Calcutta, quantity, collector, gatherer, whip, whipper in, assembled, closely packed, dense, serried, crowded to suffocation, teeming, swarming, populous, as thick as hops, all of a heap, fasciculated cumulative, the plot thickens, acervatim, tibi seris tibi metis.