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holmes

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Holmes¹

  • /hoʊmz/ US
  • /hoʊlmz/ US
  • /həʊmz/ UK
  • /həʊlmz/ UK

Rhymes with -oʊmz, -əʊmz, -oʊlmz, -əʊlmz

Where it comes from

From holme, variant of holm (“islet”).

proper noun

  1. A northern English surname from Middle English, variant of Holme. Last year, a US appeals court upheld the convictions of Holmes and Theranos President Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. It also upheld the $452 million in restitution that Holmes and Balwani were ordered to pay to victims.
  2. Sherlock Holmes, fictional detective.
  3. by extension, someone acting like, or showing the ability of Sherlock Holmes.
  4. rare A male given name transferred from the surname.
  5. A hamlet in Tarleton parish, West Lancashire district, Lancashire, England (OS grid ref SD4319).
  6. A suburb of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SK4192).
  7. A suburb of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
  8. An unincorporated community in Humboldt County, California.
  9. An unincorporated community in Wright County, Iowa.
  10. An unincorporated community in Adair County, Kentucky.
  11. A township in Menominee County, Michigan.
  12. A hamlet in the town of Pawling, Dutchess County, New York.
  13. A township in Crawford County, Ohio.
  14. An unincorporated community in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

holmes²

Where it comes from

Possibly from homeboy + -s (hypocoristic suffix), with the spelling influenced by Sherlock Holmes.

noun homes

  1. no plural, slang An informal term of address, like man or dude. Hey, holmes! What's up?

holmes³

Where it comes from

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

noun

  1. plural plural of holme

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: sherlock holmes, craig, dana, christina, buddy, homes, investigator, gumshoe, shamus, inspector, detective, sleuth, bloodhound, spy, tracer, searcher

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Cite this
MLA

"holmes." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/holmes. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

holmes. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/holmes

Chicago

"holmes." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/holmes.

BibTeX
@misc{holmes_2026,
  title = {holmes},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/holmes},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}