hold

If you say 'Hold it', you are telling someone to stop what they are doing and to wait.

If you have a hold on something, you carry or support it, using your hands or your arms.

Hold is used in expressions such as grab hold of, catch hold of, and get hold of, to indicate that you close your hand tightly around something, for example to stop something moving or falling.

A hold is a particular way of keeping someone in a position using your own hands, arms, or legs.

In a ship or aeroplane, a hold is a place where cargo or luggage is stored.

If you have a hold over someone, you have power or control over them, for example because you know something about them you can use to threaten them or because you are in a position of authority.

If you hold something against someone, you let their actions in the past influence your present attitude towards them and cause you to deal severely or unfairly with them.

If you hold back or if something holds you back, you hesitate before you do something because you are not sure whether it is the right thing to do.

To hold someone or something back means to prevent someone from doing something, or to prevent something from happening.

If you hold something back, you keep it in reserve to use later.

If you hold something back, you do not include it in the information you are giving about something.

If you hold back something such as tears or laughter, or if you hold back, you make an effort to stop yourself from showing how you feel.

If you hold down a job or a place on a team, you manage to keep it.

If you hold someone down, you keep them under control and do not allow them to have much freedom or power or many rights.

If you hold off doing something, you delay doing it or delay making a decision about it.

If you hold off a challenge in a race or competition, you do not allow someone to pass you.

If you hold on, or hold onto something, you keep your hand on it or around it, for example to prevent the thing from falling or to support yourself.

If you hold on, you manage to achieve success or avoid failure in spite of great difficulties or opposition.

If you ask someone to hold on, you are asking them to wait for a short time.

If you hold out your hand or something you have in your hand, you move your hand away from your body, for example to shake hands with someone.

If you hold out for something, you refuse to accept something which you do not think is good enough or large enough, and you continue to demand more.

If you say that someone is holding out on you, you think that they are refusing to give you information that you want.

If you hold out, you manage to resist an enemy or opponent in difficult circumstances and refuse to give in.

If you hold out hope of something happening, you hope that in the future something will happen as you want it to.

If you hold up your hand or something you have in your hand, you move it upward into a particular position and keep it there.

If one thing holds up another, it is placed under the other thing in order to support it and prevent it from falling.

To hold up a person or process means to make them late or delay them.

Hold up means the same as hold.

If someone holds up a place such as a bank or a shop, they point a weapon at someone there to make them give them money or valuable goods.

If you hold up something such as someone's behaviour, you make it known to other people, so that they can criticize or praise it.

If something such as a type of business holds up in difficult conditions, it stays in a reasonably good state.

If an argument or theory holds up, it is true or valid, even after close examination.

If you hold forth on a subject, you speak confidently and for a long time about it, especially to a group of people.

If you hold your own, you are able to resist someone who is attacking or opposing you.

If you can do something well enough to hold your own, you do not appear foolish when you are compared with someone who is generally thought to be very good at it.

If you hold still, you do not move.

If you hold tight, you put your hand around or against something in order to prevent yourself from falling over. A bus driver might say 'Hold tight!' to you if you are standing on a bus when it is about to move.

If you hold tight, you do not immediately start a course of action that you have been planning or thinking about.

If you get hold of an object or information, you obtain it, usually after some difficulty.

If you get hold of someone, you manage to contact them.

If you put something on hold, you decide not to do it, deal with it, or change it now, but to leave it until later.

If something takes hold, it gains complete control or influence over a person or thing.

When you hold something, you carry or support it, using your hands or your arms.

When you hold someone, you put your arms around them, usually because you want to show them how much you like them or because you want to comfort them.

If you hold someone in a particular position, you use force to keep them in that position and stop them from moving.

When you hold a part of your body, you put your hand on or against it, often because it hurts.

When you hold a part of your body in a particular position, you put it into that position and keep it there.

If one thing holds another in a particular position, it keeps it in that position.

If one thing is used to hold another, it is used to store it.

If a place holds something, it keeps it available for reference or for future use.

If something holds a particular amount of something, it can contain that amount.

Hold is used with words and expressions indicating an opinion or belief, to show that someone has a particular opinion or believes that something is true.

Hold is used with words such as 'fear' or 'mystery' to indicate someone's feelings towards something, as if those feelings were a characteristic of the thing itself.

Hold is used with nouns such as 'office', 'power', and 'responsibility' to indicate that someone has a particular position of power or authority.

Hold is used with nouns such as 'permit', 'degree', or 'ticket' to indicate that someone has a particular document that allows them to do something.

Hold is used with nouns such as 'party', 'meeting', 'talks', 'election', and 'trial' to indicate that people are organizing a particular activity.

Hold is used with nouns such as 'conversation', 'interview', and 'talks' to indicate that two or more people meet and discuss something.

Hold is used with nouns such as 'shares' to indicate that someone owns a particular proportion of a business.

Hold is used with nouns such as 'attention' or 'interest' to indicate that what you do or say keeps someone interested or listening to you.

If you hold someone responsible, liable, or accountable for something, you will blame them if anything goes wrong.

If someone holds you in a place, they keep you there as a prisoner and do not allow you to leave.

If people such as an army or a violent crowd hold a place, they control it by using force.

If you ask someone to hold, or to hold the line, when you are answering a telephone call, you are asking them to wait for a short time, for example so that you can find the person they want to speak to.

If you hold telephone calls for someone, you do not allow people who phone to speak to that person, but take messages instead.

If something holds at a particular value or level, or is held there, it is kept at that value or level.

If you hold a sound or musical note, you continue making it.

If you hold something such as a train or a lift, you delay it.

If an offer or invitation still holds, it is still available for you to accept.

If a good situation holds, it continues and does not get worse or fail.

If an argument or theory holds, it is true or valid, even after close examination.

If part of a structure holds, it does not fall or break although there is a lot of force or pressure on it.

If laws or rules hold, they exist and remain in force.

If you hold to a promise or to high standards of behaviour, you keep that promise or continue to behave according to those standards.

If someone or something holds you to a promise or to high standards of behaviour, they make you keep that promise or those standards.