Etimology
From Middle English holden, from Old English healdan, from Proto-West Germanic *haldan, from Proto-Germanic *haldaną (“to tend, herd”), maybe from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to drive”). Compare Latin celer (“quick”), Tocharian B käl- (“to goad, drive”), Ancient Greek κέλλω (kéllō, “to drive”), Sanskrit कलयति (kalayati, “to impel”). Cognate to West Frisian hâlde, Low German holden, holen, Dutch houden, German halten, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål holde, Norwegian Nynorsk halda.
verb
hold (third-person singular simple present holds, present participle holding, simple past held, past participle held or (archaic) holden)
(transitive) To grasp or grip.
(transitive) To contain or store.
(heading) To maintain or keep to a position or state.
(heading) To maintain or keep to particular opinions, promises, actions.
(tennis, transitive, intransitive) To win one's own service game.
To take place, to occur.
To organise an event or meeting (usually in passive voice).
(archaic) To derive right or title.
(imperative) In a food or drink order at an informal restaurant etc., requesting that a component normally included in that order be omitted.
(slang, intransitive) To be in possession of illicit drugs for sale.
Examples
Hold the pencil like this.
But then I had the flintlock by me for protection. ¶ There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […].
The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.
The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, […]. Scribes, illuminators, and scholars held such stones directly over manuscript pages as an aid in seeing what was being written, drawn, or read.
This package holds six bottles.
Hold my coat for me.
The general ordered the colonel to hold his position at all costs.
She was Nicolas Sarkozy's pin-up for diversity, the first Muslim woman with north African parents to hold a major French government post. But Rachida Dati has now turned on her own party elite with such ferocity that some have suggested she should be expelled from the president's ruling party.
Hold a table for us at 7:00.
Hold the elevator.
Hold the suspect in this cell.
to hold true
The proposition holds.
I remember, before the Dwarf left the Queen, he followed us one day into thoſe gardens, and my Nurſe having ſet me down, he and I being cloſe together, near ſome Dwarf Apple trees, I muſt need ſhew my Wit, by a ſilly Alluſion between him and the Trees, which happens to hold in their Language as it doth in ours.
The rule holds in land as well as all other commodities.
Free speech is a basic human right that holds even during a state of emergency.
to hold firm
Mother […] considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.
We cannot hold mortality's strong hand.
Death! what do'st? O, hold thy blow.
He hath not sufficient judgment and self-command to hold his tongue.
He holds himself proudly erect.
Hold your head high.
Let him hold his fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper .
Lay on, Macduff, and damned him that first cries hold, enough!
Our force by land hath nobly held.
to hold one's bladder
to hold one's breath
He neuer hild but gracious thoughts of vvomen, yeat, I vvinne, / The fayreſt She he euer ſavv might quit his thoughts of ſinne.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.
It's a terrible thought / To have and hold
He was held responsible for the actions of those under his command.
I'll hold him to that promise.
Hold not thy peace, and be not still.
Seedtime and harvest, heat and hoary frost, / Shall hold their course.
Stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught.
These reasons mov'd her starlike husband's heart, But still he held his purpose to depart:
His dauntless heart would fain have held / From weeping, but his eyes rebelled.
He came into the hall where the wedding-festival had held […].
Elections will be held on the first Sunday of next month.
Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
My Crovvn is abſolute, and holds of none.
His imagination holds immediately from nature.
One ham-and-cheese sandwich; hold the mustard.
A martini, please, and hold the olive.
[…] 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.
Related words
synonyms
(grasp or grip): clasp, grasp, grip; See also Thesaurus:grasp
(have and keep possession of something): own; See also Thesaurus:possess
(not to move): See also Thesaurus:stop
(not to give way): See also Thesaurus:persevere
(restrain oneself): See also Thesaurus:desist
(take place): happen; See also Thesaurus:happen
antonyms
release
noun
hold (plural holds)
A grasp or grip.
An act or instance of holding.
A place where animals are held for safety
An order that something is to be reserved or delayed, limiting or preventing how it can be dealt with.
Something reserved or kept.
Power over someone or something.
The ability to persist.
The property of maintaining the shape of styled hair.
(wrestling) A position or grip used to control the opponent.
(exercise) An exercise involving holding a position for a set time
(gambling) The percentage the house wins on a gamble, the house or bookmaker's hold.
(gambling) The wager amount, the total hold.
(tennis) An instance of holding one's service game, as opposed to being broken.
The part of an object one is intended to grasp, or anything one can use for grasping with hands or feet.
A fruit machine feature allowing one or more of the reels to remain fixed while the others spin.
(video games, dated) A pause facility.
The queueing system on telephones and similar communication systems which maintains a connection when all lines are busy.
(baseball) 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.
(aviation) A region of airspace reserved for aircraft being kept in a holding pattern.
Examples
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.
Keep a firm hold on the handlebars.
Can I have a hold of the baby?
Senator X placed a hold on the bill, then went to the library and placed a hold on a book.
Because there were no “launch commit criteria” regarding surface booster temperatures that might cause a hold on the launch, the ice team did not report the temperatures to the launch controllers.
We have a hold here for you.
The Judge accepts the payment, the law no longer has a hold on you, and therefore you are free to walk out of the court a free man or woman.
War has a hold on our cultural imaginations as an inevitable force, it is peace that has no benefactor.
This year I slept and woke with pain,I almost wish’d no more to wake,And that my hold on life would breakBefore I heard those bells again: […]
Despite their seemingly strong hold on life, as indicated by the persistence of movement in decapitation tests, rattlers are relatively frail creatures and are easily killed.
Sculpturing gels provide stiffer hold than styling gels, which provide better hold than mousses.
He got him in a tight hold and pinned him to the mat.
The House Hold on the game is 10,000, this is the amount of decision or risk the house wishes to assume.
As of Monday night the total Melbourne Cup hold was $848,015
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.
The beginner will instinctively try to stick his toe straight in in a foot hold, which is very tiring on the calf muscles.
A hold facility is available; H holds, and S restarts.
SCREEN 5 — Perhaps the toughest — going like the clappers sometimes works but generally you'll have to be smarter than that. If things get a little too hectic and you don't even have time to reach the HOLD key, try taking a short rest below the top of the stairs.
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.
Even the "on-hold" messages on Southwest's telephone system are humorous, ensuring anyone inconvenienced by the hold is entertained.
Note. After the device downloads its new configuration file, we can test placing a call on hold and the generic hold music will be heard.
Related words
synonyms
a-hold
apron-string hold
baggage hold
choke-hold
chokehold
choke hold
climbing hold
first-order hold
foothold
gangsta hold
get a hold of
get hold of
hand-hold
handhold
hold baggage
hold luggage
household
jug hold
lay hold of
lay hold on
lay hold upon
legal hold
love hold
luggage hold
military hold
mini-hold
no holds barred
on hold
personal hold
sleeper hold
stronghold
take hold
threshhold
toe-hold
toe hold
weapons hold
wind-hold
wind hold
zero-order hold
Etimology
Alteration (due to hold) of hole. Cognate with Dutch hol (“hole, cave, den, cavity, cargo hold”), Dutch holte (“cavity, hollow, den”).
noun
hold (plural holds)
(nautical, aviation) The cargo area of a ship or aircraft (often holds or cargo hold).
Examples
We watched our luggage being loaded into the hold of the plane.
Etimology
From Middle English hold, holde, from Old English hold (“gracious, friendly, kind, favorable, true, faithful, loyal, devout, acceptable, pleasant”), 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
hold (comparative more hold, superlative most hold)
(obsolete) Gracious; friendly; faithful; true.
Examples
at the proper moment, I stepped forward with a gay heart and a hold one