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hold

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hold¹

  • /həʊld/ UK
  • [hɒʊɫd] UK
  • /hɔwld/ British, Southern, Standard
  • [hɔw(ɫ)d] British, Southern, Standard
  • /hɔld/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /hold/ Scotland
  • [hoɫd] Scotland
  • /hould/ Wales
  • [houɫd] Wales
  • /haːd/ Northumbria
  • /haʊld/ Northumbria
  • /hoʊld/ US
  • [hoəɫd] US
  • /hoʊld/ Canada
  • [hoːɫd] Canada

Sounds like holed · Rhymes with -əʊld

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Germanic *haldaną

Proto-West Germanic *haldan

Old English healdan

Middle English holden

English hold

Derived from Middle English holden, derived from Old English healdan, derived from Proto-West Germanic *haldan, derived from Proto-Germanic *haldaną (“to tend, herd”), maybe derived from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to drive”). Doublet of halt.

Cognates

*West Frisian hâlde

*Low German holden, holen

*Dutch houden

*German halten

*Danish

*Norwegian Bokmål holde

*Norwegian Nynorsk halda.

Compare Latin celer (“quick”), Tocharian B käl- (“to goad, drive”), Ancient Greek κέλλω (kéllō, “to drive”), Sanskrit कलयति (kalayati, “to impel”).

verb holds · holding · held · holden

  1. transitive To grasp or grip. Hold the pencil like this.
  2. transitive To contain or store. This package holds six bottles.
  3. transitive To have and keep possession of something. Hold my coat for me.
  4. transitive To reserve. Hold a table for us at 7:00.
  5. transitive To cause to wait or delay. Hold the elevator.
  6. transitive To halt or delay (medication) temporarily. Patients who test positive for COVID-19 infection should be advised to hold their biologic dose until their infection clears.
  7. transitive To detain. Hold the suspect in this cell.
  8. copulative, intransitive To be or remain valid; to apply (usually in the third person). to hold true
  9. copulative, intransitive To keep oneself in a particular state. to hold firm
  10. transitive To impose restraint upon; to limit in motion or action; to bind legally or morally; to confine; to restrain. We cannot hold mortality's strong hand.
  11. transitive To bear, carry, or manage. He holds himself proudly erect.
  12. imperative, intransitive Not to move; to halt; to stop. Lay on, Macduff, and damned him that first cries hold, enough!
  13. intransitive Not to give way; not to part or become separated; to remain unbroken or unsubdued. Our force by land hath nobly held.
  14. To remain continent; to control an excretory bodily function. to hold one's bladder
  15. transitive To maintain, to consider, to opine. She holds that passive index funds beat actively managed ones: she says that "set it and forget it," when done right, beats playing the market as a gambler.
  16. transitive To bind (someone) to a consequence of his or her actions. He was held responsible for the actions of those under his command.
  17. To maintain in being or action; to carry on; to prosecute, as a course of conduct or an argument; to continue; to sustain. Hold not thy peace, and be not still.
  18. To accept, as an opinion; to be the adherent of, openly or privately; to persist in, as a purpose; to maintain; to sustain. Stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught.
  19. archaic To restrain oneself; to refrain; to hold back. His dauntless heart would fain have held / From weeping, but his eyes rebelled.
  20. ambitransitive To win one's own service game.
  21. To take place, to occur. He came into the hall where the wedding-festival had held […].
  22. To organise an event or meeting (usually in passive voice). Elections will be held on the first Sunday of next month.
  23. archaic To derive right or title. My Crovvn is abſolute, and holds of none.
  24. imperative In a food or drink order at an informal restaurant etc., requesting that a component normally included in that order be omitted. One ham-and-cheese sandwich; hold the mustard.
  25. intransitive, slang To be in possession of illicit drugs for sale. […] first thing clients would say to me would be 'Are you holding?' I'd say yes if we had our supply and no if it was dangerous.

noun holds

  1. A grasp or grip. Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.
  2. An act or instance of holding. Can I have a hold of the baby?
  3. A place where animals are held for safety
  4. An order that something is to be reserved or delayed, limiting or preventing how it can be dealt with. Senator X placed a hold on the bill, then went to the library and placed a hold on a book.
  5. Something reserved or kept. We have a hold here for you.
  6. Power over someone or something. The fad has gained a sure hold on every teenager.
  7. The ability to persist. This year I slept and woke with pain, ⁠I almost wish’d no more to wake, ⁠And that my hold on life would break Before I heard those bells again: […]
  8. The property of maintaining the shape of styled hair. Sculpturing gels provide stiffer hold than styling gels, which provide better hold than mousses.
  9. A position or grip used to control the opponent. He got him in a tight hold and pinned him to the mat.
  10. An exercise involving holding a position for a set time
  11. The percentage the house wins on a gamble, the house or bookmaker's hold. The House Hold on the game is 10,000, this is the amount of decision or risk the house wishes to assume.
  12. The wager amount, the total hold. As of Monday night the total Melbourne Cup hold was $848,015
  13. An instance of holding one's service game, as opposed to being broken.
  14. The part of an object one is intended to grasp, or anything one can use for grasping with hands or feet. So I felt my way down the passage back to the vault, and recked not of the darkness, nor of Blackbeard and his crew, if only I could lay my lips to liquor. Thus I groped about the barrels till near the top of the stack my hand struck on the spile of a keg, and drawing it, I got my mouth to the hold.
  15. A fruit machine feature allowing one or more of the reels to remain fixed while the others spin.
  16. dated A pause facility. A hold facility is available; H holds, and S restarts.
  17. The queueing system on telephones and similar communication systems which maintains a connection when all lines are busy. Given that there is an average on-hold time of more than five minutes while enquiries are being dealt with, the telephone hold system provided the best opportunity.
  18. A statistic awarded to a relief pitcher who is not still pitching at the end of the game and who records at least one out and maintains a lead for his team.
  19. A region of airspace reserved for aircraft being kept in a holding pattern.

hold²

  • /həʊld/ UK
  • [hɒʊɫd] UK
  • /hɔwld/ British, Southern, Standard
  • [hɔw(ɫ)d] British, Southern, Standard
  • /hɔld/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /hold/ Scotland
  • [hoɫd] Scotland
  • /hould/ Wales
  • [houɫd] Wales
  • /haːd/ Northumbria
  • /haʊld/ Northumbria
  • /hoʊld/ US
  • [hoəɫd] US
  • /hoʊld/ Canada
  • [hoːɫd] Canada

Sounds like holed · Rhymes with -əʊld

Where it comes from

Alteration (due to hold) of hole. Cognate with Dutch hol (“hole, cave, den, cavity, cargo hold”), Dutch holte (“cavity, hollow, den”).

noun holds

  1. The cargo area of a ship or aircraft (often holds or cargo hold). We watched our luggage being loaded into the hold of the plane.

hold³

  • /həʊld/ UK
  • [hɒʊɫd] UK
  • /hɔwld/ British, Southern, Standard
  • [hɔw(ɫ)d] British, Southern, Standard
  • /hɔld/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /hold/ Scotland
  • [hoɫd] Scotland
  • /hould/ Wales
  • [houɫd] Wales
  • /haːd/ Northumbria
  • /haʊld/ Northumbria
  • /hoʊld/ US
  • [hoəɫd] US
  • /hoʊld/ Canada
  • [hoːɫd] Canada

Sounds like holed · Rhymes with -əʊld

Where it comes from

From Middle English hold, holde, from Old English hold (“gracious, friendly, kind”), from Proto-West Germanic *holþ, from Proto-Germanic *hulþaz (“favourable, gracious, loyal”), from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to tend, incline, bend, tip”).

Cognate with German hold (“gracious, friendly, sympathetic, grateful”), Danish and Swedish huld (“fair, kindly, gracious”), Icelandic hollur (“faithful, dedicated, loyal”), German Huld (“grace, favour”).

adjective more hold · most hold

  1. obsolete Gracious; friendly; faithful; true. at the proper moment, I stepped forward with a gay heart and a hold one

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