stack

—stacker, n. —stackless, adj.

/stak/, n.

1. a more or less orderly pile or heap: a precariously balanced stack of books; a neat stack of papers.

2. a large, usually conical, circular, or rectangular pile of hay, straw, or the like.

3. Often, stacks. a set of shelves for books or other materials ranged compactly one above the other, as in a library.

4. stacks, the area or part of a library in which the books and other holdings are stored or kept.

5. a number of chimneys or flues grouped together.

6. smokestack.

7. a vertical duct for conveying warm air from a leader to a register on an upper story of a building.

8. a vertical waste pipe or vent pipe serving a number of floors.

9. Informal. a great quantity or number.

10. Radio. an antenna consisting of a number of components connected in a substantially vertical series.

11. Computers. a linear list arranged so that the last item stored is the first item retrieved.

12. Mil. a conical, free-standing group of three rifles placed on their butts and hooked together with stacking swivels.

13. Also called air stack, stackup. Aviation. a group of airplanes circling over an airport awaiting their turns to land.

14. an English measure for coal and wood, equal to 108 cubic feet (3 cu. m).

15. Geol. a column of rock isolated from a shore by the action of waves.

16. Games.

a. a given quantity of chips that can be bought at one time, as in poker or other gambling games.

b. the quantity of chips held by a player at a given point in a gambling game.

17. blow one's stack, Slang. to lose one's temper or become uncontrollably angry, esp. to display one's fury, as by shouting: When he came in and saw the mess he blew his stack.

v.t.

18. to pile, arrange, or place in a stack: to stack hay; to stack rifles.

19. to cover or load with something in stacks or piles.

20. to arrange or select unfairly in order to force a desired result, esp. to load (a jury, committee, etc.) with members having a biased viewpoint: The lawyer charged that the jury had been stacked against his client.

21. to keep (a number of incoming airplanes) flying nearly circular patterns at various altitudes over an airport where crowded runways, a low ceiling, or other temporary conditions prevent immediate landings.

v.i.

22. to be arranged in or form a stack: These chairs stack easily.

23. stack the deck,

a. to arrange cards or a pack of cards so as to cheat: He stacked the deck and won every hand.

b. to manipulate events, information, etc., esp. unethically, in order to achieve an advantage or desired result.

24. stack up,

a. Aviation. to control the flight patterns of airplanes waiting to land at an airport so that each circles at a designated altitude.

b. Informal. to compare; measure up (often fol. by against): How does the movie stack up against the novel?

c. Informal. to appear plausible or in keeping with the known facts: Your story just doesn't stack up.

[1250-1300; (n.) ME stak < ON stakkr haystack; (v.) ME stakken, deriv. of the v.]

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