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more about holding
holding |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Hold \Hold\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Held}; p. pr & vb n. {Holding}. {Holden}, p. p., is obs. in elegant writing, though still used in legal language.] [OE. haldan, D. houden, OHG. hoten, Icel. halda, Dan. holde, Sw h[*a]lla, Goth. haldan to feed, tend (the cattle); of unknown origin. Gf {Avast}, {Halt}, {Hod}.] 1. To cause to remain in a given situation, position, or relation, within certain limits, or the like to prevent from falling or escaping; to sustain; to restrain; to keep in the grasp; to retain. The loops held one curtain to another. --Ex. xxxvi 12. Thy right hand shall hold me --Ps. cxxxix 10. They all hold swords, being expert in war. --Cant. iii. 8. In vain he seeks, that having can not hold --Spenser. France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue, . . . A fasting tiger safer by the tooth, Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold --Shak. 2. To retain in one's keeping; to maintain possession of or authority over not to give up or relinquish; to keep to defend. We mean to hold what anciently we claim Of deity or empire. --Milton. 3. To have to possess; to be in possession of to occupy; to derive title to as to hold office. This noble merchant held a noble house. --Chaucer. Of him to hold his seigniory for a yearly tribute. --Knolles. And now the strand, and now the plain, they held. --Dryden. 4. To impose restraint upon to limit in motion or action to bind legally or morally; to confine; to restrain. We can not hold mortality's strong hand. --Shak. Death! what do'st? O,hold thy blow. --Grashaw. He hat not sufficient judgment and self-command to hold his tongue. --Macaulay. 5. To maintain in being or action to carry on to prosecute, as a course of conduct or an argument; to continue; to sustain. Hold not thy peace, and be not still --Ps. lxxxiii. 1. Seedtime and harvest, heat and hoary frost, Shall hold their course. --Milton. 6. To prosecute, have take or join in as something which is the result of united action as to hold a meeting, a festival, a session, etc.; hence to direct and bring about officially; to conduct or preside at as the general held a council of war; a judge holds a court; a clergyman holds a service. I would hold more talk with thee. --Shak. 7. To receive and retain; to contain as a vessel; as this pail holds milk; hence to be able to receive and retain; to have capacity or containing power for Broken cisterns that can hold no water. --Jer. ii 13. One sees more devils than vast hell can hold --Shak. 8. To accept as an opinion; to be the adherent of openly or privately; to persist in as a purpose; to maintain; to sustain. Stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught. --2 Thes. ii.15. But still he held his purpose to depart. --Dryden. 9. To consider; to regard; to esteem; to account; to think; to judge. I hold him but a fool. --Shak. I shall never hold that man my friend. --Shak. The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. --Ex. xx 7. 10. To bear, carry, or manage; as he holds himself erect; he holds his head high. Let him hold his fingers thus --Shak. {To hold a wager}, to lay or hazard a wager. --Swift. {To hold forth}, to offer; to exhibit; to propose; to put forward. ``The propositions which books hold forth and pretend to teach.'' --Locke. {To held in}, to restrain; to curd. {To hold in hand}, to toy with to keep in expectation; to have in one's power. [Obs.] O, fie! to receive favors, return falsehoods, And hold a lady in hand. --Beaw. & Fl {To hold in play}, to keep under control; to dally with --Macaulay. {To hold off}, to keep at a distance. {To hold on}, to hold in being continuance or position; as to hold a rider on {To hold one's day}, to keep one's appointment. [Obs.] --Chaucer. {To hold one's own}. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Holding \Hold"ing\, n. 1. The act or state of sustaining, grasping, or retaining. 2. A tenure; a farm or other estate held of another. 3. That which holds binds, or influences. --Burke. 4. The burden or chorus of a song. [Obs.] --Shak. {Holding note} (Mus.), a note sustained in one part while the other parts move From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: holding adj : designed for (usually temporary) retention; "a holding pen"; "a retaining wall" [syn: {retaining}] n 1: the act of keeping in your possession [syn: {retention}, {keeping}] 2: any tangible possession that is owned by someone "that hat is my property" [syn: {property}, {belongings}, {material possession}]
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