Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Stack \Stack\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stacked}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Stacking}.] [Cf. Sw. stacka, Dan. stakke. See {Stack}, n.]
   To lay in a conical or other pile; to make into a large pile;
   as, to stack hay, cornstalks, or grain; to stack or place
   wood.

   {To stack arms} (Mil.), to set up a number of muskets or
      rifles together, with the bayonets crossing one another,
      and forming a sort of conical pile.

Stack \Stack\, a. [Icel. stakkr; akin to Sw. stack, Dan. stak.
   Sf. {Stake}.]
   1. A large pile of hay, grain, straw, or the like, usually of
      a nearly conical form, but sometimes rectangular or
      oblong, contracted at the top to a point or ridge, and
      sometimes covered with thatch.

            But corn was housed, and beans were in the stack.
                                                  --Cowper.

   2. A pile of poles or wood, indefinite in quantity.

            Against every pillar was a stack of billets above a
            man's height.                         --Bacon.

   3. A pile of wood containing 108 cubic feet. [Eng.]

   4. (Arch.)
      (a) A number of flues embodied in one structure, rising
          above the roof. Hence:
      (b) Any single insulated and prominent structure, or
          upright pipe, which affords a conduit for smoke; as,
          the brick smokestack of a factory; the smokestack of a
          steam vessel.

Source : WordNet®

stack
     n 1: an orderly pile
     2: (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent;
        "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of
        money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "it must
        have cost plenty" [syn: {batch}, {deal}, {flock}, {good
        deal}, {great deal}, {hatful}, {heap}, {lot}, {mass}, {mess},
         {mickle}, {mint}, {muckle}, {peck}, {pile}, {plenty}, {pot},
         {quite a little}, {raft}, {sight}, {slew}, {spate}, {tidy
        sum}, {wad}, {whole lot}, {whole slew}]
     3: a list in which the next item to be removed is the item most
        recently stored (LIFO) [syn: {push-down list}, {push-down
        stack}]
     4: a large tall chimney through which combustion gases and
        smoke can be evacuated [syn: {smokestack}]
     5: a storage device that handles data so that the next item to
        be retrieved is the item most recently stored (LIFO) [syn:
         {push-down storage}, {push-down store}]

stack
     v 1: load or cover with stacks; "stack a truck with boxes"
     2: arrange in stacks; "heap firewood around the fireplace";
        "stack your books up on the shelves" [syn: {pile}, {heap}]
     3: arrange the order of so as to increase one's winning
        chances; "stack the deck of cards"

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

stack
     
         (See below for synonyms) A data structure for
        storing items which are to be accessed in last-in first-out
        order.
     
        The operations on a stack are to create a new stack, to "push"
        a new item onto the top of a stack and to "pop" the top item
        off.  Error conditions are raised by attempts to pop an empty
        stack or to push an item onto a stack which has no room for
        further items (because of its implementation).
     
        Most processors include support for stacks in their
        {instruction set architecture}s.  Perhaps the most common use
        of stacks is to store subroutine arguments and return
        addresses.  This is usually supported at the {machine code}
        level either directly by "jump to subroutine" and "return from
        subroutine" instructions or by {auto-increment} and
        auto-decrement {addressing mode}s, or both.  These allow a
        contiguous area of memory to be set aside for use as a stack
        and use either a special-purpose {register} or a general
        purpose register, chosen by the user, as a {stack pointer}.
     
        The use of a stack allows subroutines to be {recursive} since
        each call can have its own calling context, represented by a
        stack frame or {activation record}.  There are many other
        uses.  The programming language {Forth} uses a data stack in
        place of variables when possible.
     
        Although a stack may be considered an {object} by users,
        implementations of the object and its access details differ.
        For example, a stack may be either ascending (top of stack is
        at highest address) or descending.  It may also be "full" (the
        stack pointer points at the top of stack) or "empty" (the
        stack pointer points just past the top of stack, where the
        next element would be pushed).  The full/empty terminology is
        used in the {Acorn Risc Machine} and possibly elsewhere.
     
        In a list-based or {functional language}, a stack might be
        implemented as a {linked list} where a new stack is an empty
        list, push adds a new element to the head of the list and pop
        splits the list into its head (the popped element) and tail
        (the stack in its modified form).
     
        At {MIT}, {pdl} used to be a more common synonym for stack,
        and this may still be true.  {Knuth} ("The Art of Computer
        Programming", second edition, vol. 1, p. 236) says:
     
          Many people who realised the importance of stacks and queues
          independently have given other names to these structures:
          stacks have been called push-down lists, reversion storages,
          cellars, dumps, nesting stores, piles, last-in first-out
          ("LIFO") lists, and even yo-yo lists!
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1995-04-10)