hold

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To carry or keep something in your hands or arms.

   She held the baby gently in her arms.

2. 2
   verb

   To keep something or someone back or in one place.

   Please hold the door open for a moment.

3. 3
   verb

   To organize an event and be responsible for it.

   They held a reception after the wedding.

4. 4
   verb

   To believe something firmly or state it as true.

   Many scientists hold that the climate is changing fast.

5. 5
   noun

   The power to control or influence someone or something.

   The dictator kept a tight hold over the country.

Multiword verbs with hold

• hold off Phrasal verb A2

  to delay taking an action until a later time

• hold over Phrasal verb A2

  to postpone something until a later occasion

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Hold in its usual sense is an Old English word whose ancient root probably meant “to watch over.” The noun hold for a large compartment in the lower part of a ship or aircraft has a separate Middle English origin: it derives from hole, is related to hollow, and may also be related to hull.

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”).

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary