verb (used with object)
- to give support or aid to; help: Please assist him in moving the furniture.
- to be associated with as an assistant or helper.
verb (used without object)
- to give aid or help.
- to be present, as at a meeting or ceremony.
noun
- Sports.
- Baseball.a play that helps to put out a batter or base runner.
- Basketball, Ice Hockey.a play that helps a teammate in gaining a goal.
- the official credit scored for such plays.
- a helpful act: She finished her homework without an assist from her father.
- Machinery. an electrical, hydraulic, or mechanical means of increasing power, efficiency, or ease of use: a luxury automobile equipped with assists for brakes, steering, windows, and seat adjustment.
verb
- to give help or support to (a person, cause, etc); aid
- to work or act as an assistant or subordinate to (another)
- ice hockey to help (a team-mate) to score, as by passing the puck
- (intr foll by at) archaic to be present; attend
noun
- US and Canadian the act of helping; aid; assistance
- baseball the act of a player who throws or deflects a batted ball in such a way that a team is enabled to put out an opponent
- sport
- a pass or other action by a player which enables another player to score a goal
- a credit given for such an action
early 15c., from Middle French assister “to stand by, help, put, place, assist” (14c.), from Latin assistere “stand by, take a stand near, attend,” from ad- “to” (see ad-) + sistere “take a stand, cause to stand,” from PIE *siste-, reduplicated form of root *sta- “to stand” (see stet). Related: Assisted; assisting. Medical assisted suicide attested from 1884.
1570s, “an act of assistance,” from assist (v.). In the sporting sense attested 1877 in baseball, 1925 in ice hockey.