Link Centre Dictionary

stack

US/stæk/ fairly common informal slang uk us
noun (5) verb (3)

noun

1.
2.

(often followed by `of'') a large number or amount or extent

  • “a batch of letters”
  • “a deal of trouble”
  • “a lot of money”
  • “he made a mint on the stock market”
  • “it must have cost plenty”
Synonyms
3.

a list in which the next item to be removed is the item most recently stored (LIFO)

Synonyms
4.

a large tall chimney through which combustion gases and smoke can be evacuated

Synonyms
5.

a storage device that handles data so that the next item to be retrieved is the item most recently stored (LIFO)

Synonyms

verb

1.

load or cover with stacks

  • “stack a truck with boxes”
2.

arrange in stacks

  • “heap firewood around the fireplace”
  • “stack your books up on the shelves”
Synonyms
3.

arrange the order of so as to increase one''s winning chances

  • “stack the deck of cards”

Origin

From Middle English stack, stacke, stakke, stak, from Old Norse stakkr (“a barn; haystack; heap; pile”), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz (“a barn; rick; haystack”). The data structure sense is a calque of Dutch stapel, introduced by Edsger W. Dijkstra. Cognate with Icelandic stakkur (“stack”), Swedish stack (“stack”), Danish stak (“stack”), Norwegian stakk (“stack”). Related to stake and sauna.

Phrases

  • blow one's stack
  • cactus stack
  • call stack
  • chimney stack
  • deep stack
  • effective stack size
  • flare stack
  • font stack
  • stack it
  • stack off
  • stack the cards
  • stack the deck

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.