hold

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /həʊld/, US /hoʊld/^[1]

hold¹ grasp, keep

Etymology

To grasp or keep is inherited from Middle English holden, inherited from Old English haldan (West Saxon healdan),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *haldaną.^[2][3] Its cognates include Old Frisian halda, Old Saxon haldan, Dutch houden, German halten and Old Norse halda,^[3][2][4] and Gothic has haldan, “to tend cattle”.^[2][3][5] From the Gothic sense the OED concludes that the verb first meant “to keep, tend, watch over”, as of grazing cattle,^[2][4][6] a sense preserved in behold.^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster compare Greek κέλλω (kéllō, “to drive a boat ashore”) and Sanskrit kālayati, “he drives”, from Proto-Indo-European *kel-.^[3][5] The noun is partly from the verb and partly from Old Norse hald (“hold, support, custody”).^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English haldan is recorded before 855;^[3] it meant “to contain, grasp, retain”, “to observe a custom” and “to have as one's own”.^[2] Middle English holden is probably from about 1175.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the verb also meant “to possess, rule”, “to detain” and “to keep back from action”.^[2] The past participle holden was replaced by held in the 16th century, but survives in legal language and in beholden.^[2][3] The noun meant the act of holding about 1100,^[2] a grip or support about 1200,^[2] a place of refuge probably before 1200,^[3] and a fortified place, a stronghold, about 1300.^[2] Hold back, “to restrain”, is from the 1530s.^[2] “To lock up, keep in custody” in modern use is by 1868,^[2] and the commercial sense “not to sell” is American English by 1875.^[2] No holds barred, from wrestling, is from 1942.^[8][6]

Timeline

• before 855 – Old English haldan.^[3]
• c. 1100 – noun, the act of holding.^[2]
• c. 1175 – Middle English holden.^[3]
• c. 1200 – noun, a grip; a refuge.^[2][3]
• c. 1300 – a stronghold.^[2]
• 16th century – past participle held.^[3]
• 1530s – hold back.^[2]
• 1868 – to keep in custody.^[2]
• 1942 – no holds barred.^[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To have and keep in one's grasp.
2. To support; to keep from moving or falling.
3. To keep in custody; to detain.
4. To contain or have room for.
5. To have or own: hold office.
6. To think or believe: hold an opinion.
7. To carry on: hold a meeting.
8. To stay firm or valid: the rule still holds.

Noun

1. The act or a way of grasping, as in wrestling.
2. Something to grip for support.
3. Control or influence: a hold over him.
4. A delay or pause: on hold.

Word family

• holder
• holding
• holdout
• holdup
• household
• stronghold
• freehold
• withhold
• uphold
• beholden

hold² ship's cargo space

Etymology

The cargo space is an alteration, by association with hold, “to keep”,^[3][9][4] of earlier inherited from Middle English holl (“hull or hold of a ship”) and hole,^[3][2] inherited from Old English hol (“hole, hollow”), the source of hole.^[3][9][6] Etymonline and Barnhart think it was also influenced by the noun meaning “husk, pod”, the source of hull.^[2][3] Klein instead derives it from Middle Dutch hol (“hole, hold”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The space below a ship's deck: holl from 1333–52,^[3] hole from 1440,^[3] and the spelling hold from 1591, in Raleigh's writings;^[3][11] the OED's first example is from 1470–1508.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word was later applied to the cargo space of an aircraft.^[4][12]

Timeline

• 1333 – holl, the hold of a ship.^[3]
• 1440 – hole.^[3]
• 1591 – the spelling hold (Raleigh).^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The space below the deck of a ship, or in an aircraft, where cargo is stored.

Related words

• behold
• hole
• hull
• halt

Usage notes

A third hold was the title of a high-ranking officer in the Danelaw, from Old Norse hǫldr.^[4][8]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin