Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense stacks, present participle stacking, past tense, past participle stacked
1. countable noun
A stackof things is a pile of them.
There were stacks of books on the bedside table and floor. [+ of]
Synonyms: pile, heap, mountain, mass More Synonyms of stack
2. verb
If you stack a number of things, you arrange them in neat piles.
Mme Cathiard was stacking the clean bottles in crates. [VERB noun]
They are stacked neatly in piles of three. [VERB-ed]
Synonyms: pile, heap up, load, assemble More Synonyms of stack
Stack up means the same as stack.
He ordered them to stack up pillows behind his back. [VERBPARTICLE noun]
...plates of delicious food stacked up on the counters. [VERB-ed PARTICLE]
[Also VERB noun PARTICLE]
3. plural noun
If you say that someone has stacks of something, you mean that they have a lot of it.
[informal]
If the job's that good, you'll have stacks of money. [+ of]
Synonyms: lot, mass, load [informal], ton [informal] More Synonyms of stack
4. verb
If someone in authority stacks an organization or body, they fill it with their own supporters so that the decisions it makes will be the ones they want it to make.
[mainly US]
They said they were going to stack the court with anti-abortion judges. [VERB noun + with]
The committee is stacked with members from energy-producing states. [VERB noun with noun]
[Also VERB noun]
Synonyms: pack, fill, crowd, stuff More Synonyms of stack
5. See also stacked, chimney stack
6.
See the odds are stacked against sb/things are stacked against sb
Phrasal verbs:
See stack up
More Synonyms of stack
stack in British English
(stæk)
noun
1.
an ordered pile or heap
2.
a large orderly pile of hay, straw, etc, for storage in the open air
3. (often plural) library science
compactly spaced bookshelves, used to house collections of books in an area usually prohibited to library users
4. Also called: stack-up
a number of aircraft circling an airport at different altitudes, awaiting their signal to land
5.
a large amount
a stack of work
6. military
a pile of rifles or muskets in the shape of a cone
7. British
a measure of coal or wood equal to 108 cubic feet
8. chimney stack, smokestack
9.
a vertical pipe, such as the funnel of a ship or the soil pipe attached to the side of a building
10.
a high column of rock, esp one isolated from the mainland by the erosive action of the sea
11.
an area in a computer memory for temporary storage
verb(transitive)
12.
to place in a stack; pile
to stack bricks on a lorry
13.
to load or fill up with piles of something
to stack a lorry with bricks
14.
to control (a number of aircraft waiting to land at an airport) so that each flies at a different altitude
15. stack the cards
Derived forms
stackable (ˈstackable)
adjective
stacker (ˈstacker)
noun
Word origin
C13: from Old Norse stakkr haystack, of Germanic origin; related to Russian stog
stack in American English
(stæk)
noun
1.
a large pile of straw, hay, etc., esp. one neatly arranged, as in a conical form, for outdoor storage
2.
any somewhat orderly pile or heap, as of boxes, books, poker chips, etc.
3.
a number of arms, esp. three rifles, leaning against one another on end so as to form a pyramid
4. British
a unit of measure for firewood or coal, equal to 108 cubic feet
5.
a.
a number of chimney flues or pipes arranged together
b.
smokestack
6. US; [pl.]
a.
an extensive series of bookshelves
b.
the main area where books are shelved in a library
7.
a.
the part of a computer memory used to store data temporarily: retrieval of data from it is in reverse order to its storage
b.
the data so stored
8. Informal
a large number or amount
verb transitive
9.
to pile or arrange in a stack
10.
to load with stacks of something
11.
to assign (aircraft) to various altitudes for circling while awaiting a turn to land
12.
to arrange in advance underhandedly so as to predetermine the outcome
to stack a jury
verb intransitive
13.
to form a stack
Idioms:
stack the cards
stack up
Derived forms
stackable (ˈstackable)
adjective
stacker (ˈstacker)
noun
Word origin
ME stac < ON stakkr, akin to MLowG stack, barrier of slanting stakes: for IE base see stick
stack in Chemical Engineering
(stæk)
Word forms: (regular plural) stacks
noun
(Chemical Engineering: Chemical waste management)
A stack is a very tall chimney used for getting rid of waste gases.
Flue gas is gas that is left over after fuel is burned and which is disposed of througha pipe or stack to the outer air.
The flue gas leaving the preheater at 550°C was discharged to atmosphere via a stack.
A stack is a very tall chimney used for getting rid of waste gases.
More idioms containing
stack
blow your stack
stack the deck
Examples of 'stack' in a sentence
stack
He was striding towards the courts carrying a large stack of law books.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Contestants pick ten and hold their nerve while the money stacks up.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Here the two varieties are stacked one on top of the other.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
The numbers continue to stack up as the prospects of his fellow competitors fade.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Both are stacked high with amazing bargains.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
We are still trying to define where the hay stack is.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Before us stood a table stacked with goodies.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Wear them with mega heels and stacks of wooden bangles.
The Sun (2010)
But all too often large companies stack the odds against innovation.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Salary groups will not stack neatly one on top of another in a salary hierarchy.
Torrington, Derek Personnel Management: A New Approach (1991)
The numbers are too stacked against us.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Or how many cars can be stacked on top of each other before the bottom one becomes useless?
The Sun (2006)
Times are hard at the moment but there are jobs for anyone if they are prepared to scrub floors or stack shelves.
The Sun (2012)
The setting seemed devoid of time, like being in the deepest stacks of a library.
Bruce Feiler WALKING THE BIBLE (2001)
In front of or beside almost all of the steeply pitched houses there are stacks of wood piled high in anticipation of winter.
Millon, Kim & Millon, Marc The Wine Roads of France (1989)
No-one else was around except a steward, stacking chairs.
Giles Whittell Spitfire Women of World War II (2007)
She spends the day in the library stacks, arranging the books.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It has a smart restaurant and bar, and boxes of new bowling shoes are stacked on the floor.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
But the government offers basic skills training to help them find rubbish jobs stacking boxes, so that's okay.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Word lists with
stack
terms used in aviation
In other languages
stack
British English: stack /stæk/ NOUN
A stack of things is a neat pile of them.
There were stacks of books on the table.
American English: stack
Arabic: كَوْمَةٌ مُنْتَظِمَة
Brazilian Portuguese: pilha empilhamento
Chinese: 堆栈
Croatian: hrpa
Czech: hromada
Danish: stak
Dutch: stapel
European Spanish: montón
Finnish: pino
French: tas
German: Stapel
Greek: στοίβα
Italian: catasta
Japanese: 積み重ね
Korean: 더미
Norwegian: stabel
Polish: stóg
European Portuguese: pilha empilhamento
Romanian: grămadă
Russian: штабель
Latin American Spanish: montón
Swedish: trave
Thai: กองที่ซ้อนกัน
Turkish: yığın
Ukrainian: купа
Vietnamese: đụn
All related terms of 'stack'
tailor's-tack
one of a series of loose looped stitches used to transfer markings for seams , darts , etc, from a paper pattern to material
BOP stack
A BOP stack is one of two or more units which control well pressure , and contain the wellhead and blowout preventers.
sea stack
a pillarlike mass of rock detached by wave action from a cliff-lined shore and surrounded by water
stack-up
If you ask how one person or thing stacks up against other people or things, you are asking how the one compares with the others.
flare stack
A flare stack is a high vertical pipe for carrying unwanted gas so it can be burned off.
stack-yard
a yard where stacks of hay , straw , etc, are kept
chimney stack
A chimney stack is the brick or stone part of a chimney that is above the roof of a building.
stack the deck
to arrange a situation unfairly against someone, or in your own favour
blow one's stack
to lose one's temper ; fly into a rage
blow your stack
to become very angry with someone and shout at them
stack the cards
to prearrange the order of a pack of cards secretly so that the deal will benefit someone
stacked heel
a heel on a shoe composed of several layers, as of leather , of alternating shades
nesting table
one of a set of usually three or four small tables that are graduated in size so that they may be stacked on top of one another