stack

Meanings

Noun

• A pile.
• A smokestack.
• In computing.
• A generalization of schemes in algebraic geometry and of sheaves.
• A coastal landform, consisting of a large vertical column of rock in the sea.
• Compactly spaced bookshelves used to house large collections of books.
• A large amount of an object.
• A pile of rifles or muskets in a cone shape.
• The amount of money a player has on the table.
• In architecture.
• A fall or crash, a prang.
• A blend of various dietary supplements or anabolic steroids with supposed synergistic benefits.
• A holding pattern, with aircraft circling one above the other as they wait to land.
• The quantity of a given item which fills up an inventory slot or bag.

Verb

• To arrange in a stack, or to add to an existing stack.
• To arrange the cards in a deck in a particular manner.
• To take all the money another player currently has on the table.
• To deliberately distort the composition of (an assembly, committee, etc.).
• To crash; to fall.
• To operate cumulatively.
• To place (aircraft) into a holding pattern.
• To collect precious metal in the form of various small objects such as coins and bars.
• To have excessive ink transfer.

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"), from Proto-Indo-European *steg- ("pole; rod; stick; stake"). Cognate with Icelandic stakkur ("stack"), Swedish stack ("stack"), Danish stak ("stack"), Norwegian stakk ("stack"). Related to stake and sauna.