stack
stack /st'æk/ (stacks stacking stacked)
1 [N-COUNT] usu N of n
A stack of things is a pile of them.
There were stacks of books on the bedside table and floor.
2 [VERB] V n, V-ed
If you stack a number of things, you arrange them in neat piles.
Mme Cathiard was stacking the clean bottles in crates...
They are stacked neatly in piles of three.
[PHRASAL VERB] V P n (not pron), V-ed P
Stack up means the same as stack.
He ordered them to stack up pillows behind his back.
...plates of delicious food stacked up on the counters.
3 [N-PLURAL] N of n
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.
4 [VERB] V n with n
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 AM)
They said they were going to stack the court with anti-abortion judges...
= pack
5
see also stacked, chimney stack
6 [PHRASE] V inflects, PHR n
If you say that the odds are stacked against someone, or that particular factors are stacked against them, you mean that they are unlikely to succeed in what they want to do because the conditions are not favourable.
The odds are stacked against civilians getting a fair trial...
Everything seems to be stacked against us.chim|ney stack (chimney stacks)
also chimney-stack
[N-COUNT]
A chimney stack is the brick or stone part of a chimney that is above the roof of a building. (BRIT)stack up
1 [PHRASAL VERB] no passive, V P
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. (INFORMAL)
How does this final presidential debate stack up and compare to the others, do you think?
= compare
2 [PHRASAL VERB] V P
If facts or figures do not stack up, they do not make sense or give the results you expect.
There have been a number of explanations, but none of them stack up.
3
see stack 2
1 [N-COUNT] usu N of n
A stack of things is a pile of them.
There were stacks of books on the bedside table and floor.
2 [VERB] V n, V-ed
If you stack a number of things, you arrange them in neat piles.
Mme Cathiard was stacking the clean bottles in crates...
They are stacked neatly in piles of three.
[PHRASAL VERB] V P n (not pron), V-ed P
Stack up means the same as stack.
He ordered them to stack up pillows behind his back.
...plates of delicious food stacked up on the counters.
3 [N-PLURAL] N of n
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.
4 [VERB] V n with n
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 AM)
They said they were going to stack the court with anti-abortion judges...
= pack
5
see also stacked, chimney stack
6 [PHRASE] V inflects, PHR n
If you say that the odds are stacked against someone, or that particular factors are stacked against them, you mean that they are unlikely to succeed in what they want to do because the conditions are not favourable.
The odds are stacked against civilians getting a fair trial...
Everything seems to be stacked against us.chim|ney stack (chimney stacks)
also chimney-stack
[N-COUNT]
A chimney stack is the brick or stone part of a chimney that is above the roof of a building. (BRIT)stack up
1 [PHRASAL VERB] no passive, V P
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. (INFORMAL)
How does this final presidential debate stack up and compare to the others, do you think?
= compare
2 [PHRASAL VERB] V P
If facts or figures do not stack up, they do not make sense or give the results you expect.
There have been a number of explanations, but none of them stack up.
3
see stack 2