hole English · revision 4009

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=946|origins=ine-pro *ḱel-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /həʊl/, US /hoʊl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|hole]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|hol|t=hollow place, cave, orifice, perforation]], the noun use of the adjective hol “hollow, concave”,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from [[gem-pro|*hulą|alt=*hulan]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[ine-pro|*ḱel-|alt=*kel-|t=to cover, conceal, save]].^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) Germanic cognates include Old Saxon and Old High German hol, Old Norse holr and German hohl “hollow”, and Gothic us-hulon “to hollow out”.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) It may also come partly from Scandinavian.^(Etymonline) As an adjective it was displaced by [[hollow]], except in dialect.^(Etymonline) The verb is Old English holian.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) It is related to [[hell]], [[hall]] and [[conceal]].^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A hollow place or cavity in a solid body, a pit or den: 946 in the OED.^(OED 1989) Barnhart's first Middle English record is before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Hollows or cavities of the body are from about 1300,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and the obscene slang use for the vulva is implied from the mid-14th century.^(Etymonline) The worst cell in a prison, first of London's Counter for debtors, is from the 1530s,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and a dingy lodging from the 1610s.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) A small cavity into which the ball is sunk in a game is from the 1580s,^(Etymonline) and the golfer's ''hole in one'' is by 1914.^(Etymonline) “A fix, a scrape” is from 1760.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In New England, a shallow cove, as in Woods Hole, is from the 1630s.^(Etymonline) The verb ''hole up'', to take shelter, is American by 1847,^(Etymonline) and “to drive a ball into a hole” is by 1867.^(Etymonline) ''Like a hole in the head'' is attested by 1944.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 946 – a cavity, a den.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1300 – a cavity of the body.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1530s – a prison cell.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1580s – in ball games.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1610s – a dingy dwelling.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1760 – a fix, a scrape.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1847 – ''hole up''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1914 – ''hole in one''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A hollow place in a solid body; a [[cavity]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # An opening through something; a [[perforation]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # An animal's [[burrow]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A fault or flaw: ''holes in the argument''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A small, dingy or unpleasant place.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # An awkward situation; a fix.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # In golf, the cup into which the ball is played, or a division of the course.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make a hole in.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To hit or drive into a hole.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To take shelter, usually with ''up''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[holeless]]

+ * [[holey]]

+ * [[hole out]]

+ * [[hole up]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[hollow]]

+ * [[hell]]

+ * [[hall]]

+ * [[conceal]]

+ * [[helmet]]

+ * [[hull]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}