withhold

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English withholden,^[2][3][4][5] formed from Middle English with- (“back, away”) + holden (“to hold”).^{[3][4][6][7][8]} Barnhart and Etymonline think it was probably modelled on, or a loan translation of, Latin retineō (“to hold back, withhold”);^[4][3] Barnhart compares German zurückhalten, which he takes for a loan translation from Latin as well.^[4] Klein glosses the first part as "against".^[9] The word is related to with and hold.^[6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To hold back or restrain, and to keep back what is due to another: about 1200, in Vices and Virtues.^[7] Barnhart dates it probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[4] and Etymonline about 1200.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Early withhold covered a wide range of keeping: to restrain (also oneself), to keep back from another, to retain, especially in the memory (to 1532), and to keep or maintain (to 1418).^[7][10] It also meant to detain or hold in custody, from before 1325 to 1714,^[7][10] to ward off (before 1400 to 1560) and to hinder (about 1400 to 1753).^[7] Etymonline notes 14th-century uses in the sense of withstand or uphold.^[3] The intransitive "to refrain from" is recorded from 1650 and was obsolete by 1817 in the OED,^[7] though Collins still records it.^[11] The past participle withholden was used into the 19th century^[3] and is now archaic.^[5][10] Johnson (1755) defined it first as "to restrain; to keep from action; to hold back".^[12] The verbal noun withholding is recorded from about 1386, in Chaucer,^[7] and in American use it names the deduction of tax from income at the source.^[5] American and British dictionaries give the verb a sense to deduct tax from wages.^[6][11]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – to restrain; to keep back from another; to retain.^[7][3]
• before 1325 – to detain, hold in custody (obsolete by 1714).^[7]
• c. 1386 – noun, withholding.^[7]
• before 1400 – to ward off (obsolete by 1560).^[7]
• c. 1400 – to hinder, prevent (obsolete by 1753).^[7]
• 1650 – intransitive, to refrain from.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To refuse to give or grant; to keep back: The company withheld the report from the press.^{[11][5][6][7]}
2. To hold back; to restrain: She could barely withhold a smile.^{[11][5][6][7]}
3. To deduct tax from a salary or wages before payment.^[6][11]
4. To refrain from; to forbear.^[11][7]
5. (obsolete, before 1325–1714) To detain; to keep in custody or under control.^[7][10]
6. (obsolete, c. 1200–1532) To keep or retain, especially in the memory.^[7][10]

Word family

• withholder
• overwithhold
• underwithhold

Related words

• with
• hold
• withstand
• retain

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.