stack

UK/stæk/US/stæk/

nounB23 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,299 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: stacked, stacks, stacking

A stack is a pile of things placed neatly one on top of another. A stack of plates, a stack of books, stack the chairs.

It implies tidiness, which is what separates it from a heap or a pile. Informally, stacks of something means a great deal: stacks of time, stacks of work. In computing a stack is a specific data structure where the last thing in is the first thing out, and the tech stack means the set of technologies a system is built from. Note stacked, meaning both piled and, of odds, unfairly arranged: the odds are stacked against them.

Definitions of stack

1nounstackA neat pile of things one on top of another.B2
“There was a stack of unopened post on the table.”
- Said"There's a stack of plates by the sink; use those."
- WrittenStacks of pancakes stood on the counter, leaning slightly, waiting for syrup.
- UsedBuild the stack from the largest plate to the smallest so it does not topple.
- ContrastA stack, not a row. A row runs along; a stack goes up, one on top of another. row →
- Not thisBowls scattered across a table are not a stack. A stack is a neat tower.
- SimplyThere is a stack of cups. Take one.
Patterna stack of + noun (plates, pancakes, papers) · a neat stack · stack sth up · stacked
synonyms: pile, heap
2verbarrangeTo arrange things in a pile.B2
“Stack the chairs at the end, please.”
3nounlargeA large amount, informally.B2
“There is stacks of room in the back.”

Remember it

STACK → plates piled to the ceiling

Plate on plate on plate, so high it nearly touches the ceiling: a stack of dirty dishes.

Phrases it lives in

the odds are stacked against you — the situation has been arranged so that you are very unlikely to win

Also practised as

verbTo pile things one on another.

Where it comes from

Old Norse stakkr meant a haystack — a pile built to shed rain. English took the farming word and generalised it, and the sense of neatness comes from the fact that a badly built haystack falls down.

Proto-Indo-European
*(s)teg- (pole)
Dutch
stapel
Proto-Germanic
*stakkaz — a barn; rick; haystack
Old Norse
stakkr — a barn; haystack; heap; pile
Middle English
stack
English, today
stack

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 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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of stack

1nounstackA neat pile of things one on top of another.B2

“There was a stack of unopened post on the table.”

Said"There's a stack of plates by the sink; use those."
WrittenStacks of pancakes stood on the counter, leaning slightly, waiting for syrup.
UsedBuild the stack from the largest plate to the smallest so it does not topple.
ContrastA stack, not a row. A row runs along; a stack goes up, one on top of another. row →
Not thisBowls scattered across a table are not a stack. A stack is a neat tower.
SimplyThere is a stack of cups. Take one.

Patterna stack of + noun (plates, pancakes, papers) · a neat stack · stack sth up · stacked

synonyms: pile, heap

2verbarrangeTo arrange things in a pile.B2

“Stack the chairs at the end, please.”

3nounlargeA large amount, informally.B2

“There is stacks of room in the back.”