Word: hold Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *haldaną Proto-West Germanic *haldan Old English healdan Middle English holden English hold 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”). Pronunciation: /həʊld/, [hɒʊɫd], /hɔwld/, [hɔw(ɫ)d], /hɔld/ 1. A grasp or grip. Example: 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. Example: Keep a firm hold on the handlebars. 2. An act or instance of holding. Example: Can I have a hold of the baby? 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. Example: Senator X placed a hold on the bill, then went to the library and placed a hold on a book. Example: 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. 5. Something reserved or kept. Example: We have a hold here for you. 6. Power over someone or something. Example: 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. Example: War has a hold on our cultural imaginations as an inevitable force, it is peace that has no benefactor. 7. The ability to persist. Example: This year I slept and woke with pain, ⁠I almost wish’d no more to wake, ⁠And that my hold on life would break Before I heard those bells again: […] Example: 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. 8. The property of maintaining the shape of styled hair. Example: Sculpturing gels provide stiffer hold than styling gels, which provide better hold than mousses. 9. A position or grip used to control the opponent. Example: He got him in a tight hold and pinned him to the mat. 10. An exercise involving holding a position for a set time 11. The percentage the house wins on a gamble, the house or bookmaker's hold. Example: The House Hold on the game is 10,000, this is the amount of decision or risk the house wishes to assume. 12. The wager amount, the total hold. Example: As of Monday night the total Melbourne Cup hold was $848,015 13. 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. Example: 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. Example: The beginner will instinctively try to stick his toe straight in in a foot hold, which is very tiring on the calf muscles. 15. A fruit machine feature allowing one or more of the reels to remain fixed while the others spin. 16. A pause facility. Labels: dated Example: A hold facility is available; H holds, and S restarts. Example: 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. 17. The queueing system on telephones and similar communication systems which maintains a connection when all lines are busy. Example: 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. Example: Even the "on-hold" messages on Southwest's telephone system are humorous, ensuring anyone inconvenienced by the hold is entertained. 18. 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. A region of airspace reserved for aircraft being kept in a holding pattern.