Definition of "hold"

hold¹

/həʊld/

verb
third-person singular simple present holds, present participle holding, simple past held, past participle held or (archaic) holden
1. (transitive) To grasp or grip.
  Quotations
  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 […].
  1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […]
  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.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
  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.
  2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist
2. (transitive) To contain or store.
3. (heading) To maintain or keep to a position or state.
  1. (transitive) To have and keep possession of something.
    Quotations
    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.
    2011 December 14, Angelique Chrisafis, “Rachida Dati accuses French PM of sexism and elitism”, in Guardian‎
  2. (transitive) To reserve.
  3. (transitive) To cause to wait or delay.
  4. (transitive) To detain.
  5. (intransitive, copulative) To be or remain valid; to apply (usually in the third person).
    Quotations
    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.
    1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), pages 226–227
    The rule holds in land as well as all other commodities.
    1691, [John Locke], Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money. […], London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […], published 1692
    Free speech is a basic human right that holds even during a state of emergency.
    2021 July 20, Masayuki Yuda, “Foodpanda faces backlash after calling Thai protest 'terrorism'”, in Nikkei Asia‎, Nikkei Inc, retrieved 2021-07-20
  6. (intransitive, copulative) To keep oneself in a particular state.
    Quotations
    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.
    1922, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎
  7. (transitive) To impose restraint upon; to limit in motion or action; to bind legally or morally; to confine; to restrain.
    Quotations
    We cannot hold mortality's strong hand.
    1623, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King John (Act iv, scene 2)
    Death! what do'st? O, hold thy blow.
    1646, Richard Crashaw, Vpon the Death of Mr. Herrys
    He hath not sufficient judgment and self-command to hold his tongue.
    1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith ”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871
  8. (transitive) To bear, carry, or manage.
    Quotations
    Let him hold his fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper .
    1595, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream
  9. (intransitive, chiefly imperative) Not to move; to halt; to stop.
    Quotations
    Lay on, Macduff, and damned him that first cries hold, enough!
    1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Macbeth
  10. (intransitive) Not to give way; not to part or become separated; to remain unbroken or unsubdued.
    Quotations
    Our force by land hath nobly held.
    1623, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra
  11. To remain continent; to control an excretory bodily function.
4. (heading) To maintain or keep to particular opinions, promises, actions.
  1. (transitive) To maintain, to consider, to opine.
    Quotations
    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.
    1776, Thomas Jefferson et al., United States Declaration of Independence
    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.
    1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
    It's a terrible thought / To have and hold
    2023, Sufjan Stevens (lyrics and music), “Javelin (To Have and To Hold)”, in Javelin
  2. (transitive) To bind (someone) to a consequence of his or her actions.
  3. To maintain in being or action; to carry on; to prosecute, as a course of conduct or an argument; to continue; to sustain.
    Quotations
    Hold not thy peace, and be not still.
    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Psalms 83:1
    Seedtime and harvest, heat and hoary frost, / Shall hold their course.
    1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II
  4. To accept, as an opinion; to be the adherent of, openly or privately; to persist in, as a purpose; to maintain; to sustain.
    Quotations
    Stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught.
    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 2 Thessalonians 2:15
    These reasons mov'd her starlike husband's heart, But still he held his purpose to depart:
    1700, Ovid (John Dryden), Ceyx and Alcyone
  5. (archaic) To restrain oneself; to refrain; to hold back.
    Quotations
    His dauntless heart would fain have held / From weeping, but his eyes rebelled.
    1685, John Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis: A Funeral Pindaric Poem
5. (tennis, transitive, intransitive) To win one's own service game.
6. To take place, to occur.
  Quotations
  He came into the hall where the wedding-festival had held […].
  1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Oxford, published 2010, page 9
7. To organise an event or meeting (usually in passive voice).
  Quotations
  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.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
8. (archaic) To derive right or title.
  Quotations
  My Crown is abſolute, and holds of none.
  1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour […]‎, London: Printed by J.M. for H. Herringman, published 1667, Act I, scene ii, page 12
  His imagination holds immediately from nature.
  1817, William Hazlitt, The Round Table
9. (imperative) In a food or drink order at an informal restaurant etc., requesting that a component normally included in that order be omitted.
10. (slang, intransitive) To be in possession of illicit drugs for sale.
  Quotations
  […] 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.
  1933, Goat Laven, Rough Stuff: The Life Story of a Gangster, page 122
noun
plural holds
1. A grasp or grip.
  Quotations
  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.
  1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
2. An act or instance of holding.
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  2008, R. Michael Gordon, The Space Shuttle Program: How NASA Lost Its Way, page 98
5. Something reserved or kept.
6. Power over someone or something.
  Quotations
  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.
  2008, Christopher Clarke-Milton, Dawn of the Messiah - Book 1, page 199
  War has a hold on our cultural imaginations as an inevitable force, it is peace that has no benefactor.
  2013, Wim Wenders, Mary Zournazi, Inventing Peace: A Dialogue on Perception, page 107
7. The ability to persist.
  Quotations
  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.
  1982, Laurence Monroe Klauber, Karen Harvey McClung, Rattlesnakes, Their Habits, Life Histories, and Influence, page 48
8. The property of maintaining the shape of styled hair.
  Quotations
  Sculpturing gels provide stiffer hold than styling gels, which provide better hold than mousses.
  2004, Zoe Diana Draelos, Hair Care: An Illustrated Dermatologic Handbook, page 221
9. (wrestling) A position or grip used to control the opponent.
10. (exercise) An exercise involving holding a position for a set time
11. (gambling) The percentage the house wins on a gamble, the house or bookmaker's hold.
  Quotations
  2002, "Reality", “The Scorecard For Bookmakers”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎, archived from the original on 27 April 2015
12. (gambling) The wager amount, the total hold.
  Quotations
  2012, Sarah Fortnum, “Melbourne Cup 2012 From The Bookie’s Perspective”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎, archived from the original on 12 November 2012
13. (tennis) 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.
  Quotations
  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.
  1898, J. Meade Falkner, chapter 4, in Moonfleet, London, Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934
  The beginner will instinctively try to stick his toe straight in in a foot hold, which is very tiring on the calf muscles.
  1995, Turlough Johnston, Madeleine Halldén, Rock Climbing Basics, page 86
15. A fruit machine feature allowing one or more of the reels to remain fixed while the others spin.
16. (video games, dated) A pause facility.
  Quotations
  A hold facility is available; H holds, and S restarts.
  1983, New Generation Software, Knot in 3D (video game instruction leaflet)
  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.
  1987?, Imagine Software, Legend of Kage (video game instruction leaflet)
17. The queueing system on telephones and similar communication systems which maintains a connection when all lines are busy.
  Quotations
  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.
  2003, Daniel Jackson, Paul Fulberg, Sonic Branding: An Essential Guide to the Art and Science of Sonic Branding, Palgrave Macmillan, page 6
  Even the "on-hold" messages on Southwest's telephone system are humorous, ensuring anyone inconvenienced by the hold is entertained.
  2005, Lorraine Grubbs-West, Lessons in Loyalty: How Southwest Airlines Does it : an Insider's View, CornerStone Leadership Inst, page 56
  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.
  2012, Tanner Ezell, Cisco Unified Communications Manager 8: Expert Administration Cookbook, Packt Publishing Ltd
18. (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.
19. (aviation) A region of airspace reserved for aircraft being kept in a holding pattern.

hold²

/həʊld/

noun
plural holds
1. (nautical, aviation) The cargo area of a ship or aircraft (often holds or cargo hold).

hold³

/həʊld/

adjective
comparative more hold, superlative most hold
1. (obsolete) Gracious; friendly; faithful; true.
  Quotations
  at the proper moment, I stepped forward with a gay heart and a hold one
  1854, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Passages from a Relinquished Work”, in Mosses from an Old Manse

Definition of "hold"

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hold2

noun

hold3

adjective

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hold¹

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hold³