different between backstop vs assist

English

Alternative forms

• back-stop

Etymology

back +? stop

Pronunciation

Noun

backstop (plural backstops)

1. A thing or a person put in the rear or in the back of something to reinforce, hold, support.
2. A default arrangement that holds if all else fails.
   • The Express, 7 June 2018

     Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar, this morning, said a time-limited backstop would be unacceptable, and has previously promised to vote down the UK’s Brexit withdrawal deal unless it features a satisfactory backstop.

   • The Irish Times, 17 November 2018

     "The 2½ years since have been about hammering home these points in any European capital that would listen. And in spite of capacity-sapping talks on the first point – Brexit, border and backstop – the Department of Foreign Affairs and other government departments have been working quietly to make good on the second.

3. (baseball) A wall or fence behind home plate.
4. (baseball slang) A catcher; the position of catcher.
5. (rounders) The player who stands immediately behind the striking base.
6. (cricket, dated) The longstop.
7. (cricket, dated) The wicket-keeper.
8. (espionage) Something serving to bolster or support a cover story etc.
   • 1976, Joseph Burkholder Smith, Portrait of a Cold Warrior (page 116)

     […] to be set up in Indonesia with a phony book and school supplies company established in New York City as a backstop.

   • 1990, Bruce W. Watson, Susan M. Watson, Gerald W. Hopple, United States intelligence: an encyclopedia (page 1974)

     Closely representing an alibi, creating a backstop could involve such measures as having people available to verify the details of an agent's cover story.

Coordinate terms

• (thing or a person to support): rearguard

Translations

Verb

backstop (third-person singular simple present backstops, present participle backstopping, simple past and past participle backstopped)

1. (transitive) To serve as backstop for.
2. (transitive) To bolster, support.

Translations

Anagrams

• back post, backpost, postback

English

Etymology

From Middle English assisten, from Old French assister (“to assist, to attend”), from Latin assist? (“stand at, bestand”, verb).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??s?st/
• Hyphenation: as?sist
• Rhymes: -?st

Verb

assist (third-person singular simple present assists, present participle assisting, simple past and past participle assisted)

1. To help.
2. (sports) To make a pass that leads directly towards scoring.
3. (medicine) To help compensate for what is missing with the help of a medical technique or therapy.
4. (archaic) To stand (at a place) or to (an opinion).

   A great part of the nobility assisted to his opinion.

5. (now archaic) To be present (at an event, occasion etc.).
   • 1789, Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of My Life, Penguin 1990, p. 138:

     I assisted with pleasure at the representation of several tragedies and comedies.

   • 1967, The Rev. Loren Gavitt (ed.), Saint Augustine's Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for members of the Episcopal Church, revised edition, West Park, NY: Holy Cross Publications, p. 8:

     To assist at Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation.

Derived terms

Related terms

• assistant
• assistance

Translations

Noun

assist (plural assists)

1. A helpful action or an act of giving.

   The foundation gave a much needed assist to the shelter.

2. (sports) The act of helping another player score points or goals
   1. (soccer) A decisive pass made to the goal scorer
      • 2016, David Hytner, Mesut Özil has Arsenal daring to dream of Premier League glory (in The Guardian, 1 January 2016)[2]

        Özil has 16 assists in the Premier League and three goals; he has two more goals in the Champions League. On Monday, he took Bournemouth apart in the 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium, setting up the first for Gabriel and scoring the second himself.

   2. (baseball) A defensive play, allowing a teammate to record a putout.

   He had two assists in the game.

Derived terms

• assistful
• assistless

Translations

Anagrams

• -stasis, sistas, stasis

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English assist.

Noun

assist m (invariable)

1. (sports) assist

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English assist.

Noun

assist c

1. (sports) Make a pass that allows the own team to score (a goal).

Declension