stack

UK: /ˈstæk/ US: /stæk/ ,(stak)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

stack /stæk/   n. [countable]

1. an organized, neat pile or heap:
   Take the top card from the stack and turn it over.
2. Agriculture a large pile of hay, straw, or the like.
3. stacks, [plural] a set of shelves for books in a library.
4. Building a smokestack.
5. Informal Terms a great quantity or number: [~ + uncountable noun]
   a stack of mail.
   [~ + plural noun]
   We got a stack of letters yesterday.
6. Computing a list, as in a computer, arranged so that the last item stored is the first item retrieved.

v. 

7. to pile, arrange, or place in a stack: [~ + object]
   She stacked the suitcases on the roof rack.
   [~ + up + object]
   He stacked up the books against the wall.
   [~ + object + up]
   He stacked them up against the wall.
8. to form a stack:
   [no object] Those logs won't stack; they keep tumbling down.
9. to cover with something in stacks:
   [~ + object* usually: be + ~-ed] The office space was stacked high with old dusty files.
10. to arrange or select unfairly in order to force a desired result:
    [~ + object] to stack a jury against a defendant.
11. stack up, [~ + up + against + object] to compare, esp. favorably;
    measure up:
    How do these new minivans stack up against the older ones?

Idioms

12. Idioms, Games stack the deck:
    • Games to arrange cards or a pack of cards so as to cheat.
    • to manage or arrange events, etc., esp. unfairly, to achieve a desired result:
      The deck was stacked against him before he even walked in for the interview.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

stack (stak),  n. 

1. a more or less orderly pile or heap:
   a precariously balanced stack of books; a neat stack of papers.
2. Agriculture 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. Library Science stacks, the area or part of a library in which the books and other holdings are stored or kept.
5. Building a number of chimneys or flues grouped together.
6. Building smokestack.
7. Building a vertical duct for conveying warm air from a leader to a register on an upper story of a building.
8. Building a vertical waste pipe or vent pipe serving a number of floors.
9. Informal Terms a great quantity or number.
10. Radio and Television an antenna consisting of a number of components connected in a substantially vertical series.
11. Computing a linear list arranged so that the last item stored is the first item retrieved.
12. Military a conical, free-standing group of three rifles placed on their butts and hooked together with stacking swivels.
13. Aeronautics Also called air stack, stackup. [Aviation.] a group of airplanes circling over an airport awaiting their turns to land.
14. Weights and Measures an English measure for coal and wood, equal to 108 cubic feet (3 cu. m).
15. Geology a column of rock isolated from a shore by the action of waves.
16. Games
    • a given quantity of chips that can be bought at one time, as in poker or other gambling games.
    • the quantity of chips held by a player at a given point in a gambling game.
17. Slang Terms blow one's stack, 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. Aeronautics 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. Games stack the deck:
    • to arrange cards or a pack of cards so as to cheat:
      He stacked the deck and won every hand.
    • to manipulate events, information, etc., esp. unethically, in order to achieve an advantage or desired result.
24. Aeronautics stack up:
    • [Aviation.] to control the flight patterns of airplanes waiting to land at an airport so that each circles at a designated altitude.
    • [Informal.] to compare;
      measure up (often fol. by against):
      How does the movie stack up against the novel?
    • [Informal.] to appear plausible or in keeping with the known facts:
      Your story just doesn't stack up.

• Old Norse stakkr haystack; (verb, verbal) Middle English stakken, derivative of the verb, verbal
• (noun, nominal) Middle English stak 1250–1300

stack′er, n. 
stack′less, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

stack / 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) 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
6. a pile of rifles or muskets in the shape of a cone
7. a measure of coal or wood equal to 108 cubic feet
8. See 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)

1. to place in a stack; pile
2. to load or fill up with piles of something: to stack a lorry with bricks
3. to control (a number of aircraft waiting to land at an airport) so that each flies at a different altitude
4. stack the cards ⇒ to prearrange the order of a pack of cards secretly so that the deal will benefit someone

Etymology: 13th Century: from Old Norse stakkr haystack, of Germanic origin; related to Russian stog

ˈstackable adjective

ˈstacker noun