From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishheapheap1 /hiːp/ ●●○ noun [countable] 1 GROUP OF THINGSa large untidy pile of things a rubbish heapheap of There was a heap of stones where the building used to be.in a heap The envelopes for posting lay in a heap on her desk. We piled the branches into heaps for burning.2 → heaps3 → fall/collapse etc in a heap4 humorousTTCOLD/NOT NEW an old car that is in bad condition5 → at the top/bottom of the heap6 → be struck all of a heap
Examples from the Corpus
heap• Ace, Defries and Bernice fell in a heap.• The jelly cupboard was on its back, its contents lying in a heap in the corner of the bottom shelf.• Then she sees Rainbow's cast-off shirt at the foot of the stairs, tangled in a heap with Anya's jeans.• The kids left all their wet towels in a heap on the bathroom floor.• On the end of the desk was a heap of newspapers.• a compost heap• An alternative to digging in the green manure in spring is to cut and add the material to the compost heap.• There was a huge heap of blankets and pillows on the bed.• Here there were piles of newspapers, heaps of books, manuscripts, labels, rubber stamps, envelopes.• Loose orange heaps, recently dropped, steaming, that bristled with straw.• Candles in jam-jars were set around the heap of boulders.in a heap• The foreigner stumbled on a few steps, his brains leaking out around his earphones, and collapsed in a heap.• The enemy was mowed down in heaps.• Ace, Defries and Bernice fell in a heap.• The gallant commander and his horse fell in a heap... the horse dead, the rider unhurt.• She was left in a heap at the side of the road as the defendant drove off.• The jelly cupboard was on its back, its contents lying in a heap in the corner of the bottom shelf.• Wattling always leaves his flannel lying in a heap by the bath.• The cabbage was all gone and the shiny ankle bones of smoked pork were pushed in a heap on their plates.heapheap2 verb [transitive] 1 (also heap up)PUT to put a lot of things on top of each other in an untidy way SYN pileheap on Jean heaped logs on the fire.2 → heap something with something3 → heap praise/insults etc on somebody→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
heap• Piles of garbage were heaped everywhere.• He came down to breakfast surprised to find cakes and candies heaped high on his plate.• In spite of all the indignities Joe Harries had heaped on her, Eline felt she should be faithful to her vows.• Cheap clothes and shoes were heaped on tables.• Typically enough, being a woman, she heaps the blame on me.• Eileen collected the leaves, heaping them into piles for burning.• Her clothes lay heaped together in a corner of the room.• But Dot saw plenty of coal heaped up beside the tracks in so many different shades of black.• They see the lifeless briefs heaped upon their benches like great mountains in stark black and white.• It was heaped with a grain something like rice.• Some ride in wheelchairs, balancing trays heaped with bratwurst, red cabbage and crumb cake.• a plate heaped with saladOrigin heap1 Old English 