King James Bible Dictionary

A fortress, the name given to David's lurking-places (1 Samuel 22:4, 5; 24:22).

HOLD, verb transitive preterit tense held; participle passive held. Holden is obsolete in elegant writing. [Gr. to hold or restrain; Heb. to hold or contain.]

1. To stop; to confine; to restrain from escape; to keep fast; to retain. It rarely or never signifies the first act of seizing or falling on, but the act of retaining a thing when seized or confined. To grasp, is to seize, or to keep fast in the hand; hold coincides with grasp in the latter sense, but not in the former. We hold a horse by means of a bridle. An anchor holds a ship in her station.

2. To embrace and confine, with bearing or lifting. We hold an orange in the hand, or a child in the arms.

3. To connect; to keep from separation.

The loops held one curtain to another. Exodus 36:1.

4. To maintain, as an opinion. He holds the doctrine of justification by free grace.

5. To consider; to regard; to think; to judge, that is, to have in the mind.

I hold him but a fool.

The Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in vain. Exodus 20:7.

6. To contain, or to have capacity to receive and contain. Here is an empty basket that holds two bushels. This empty cask holds thirty gallons. The church holds two thousand people.

7. To retain within itself; to keep from running or flowing out. A vessel with holes in its bottom will not hold fluids.

They have hewed them out broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13.

8. To defend; to keep possession; to maintain.

We mean to hold what anciently we claim

Of empire.

9. To have; as, to hold a place, office or title.

10. To have or possess by title; as, he held his lands of the king. The estate is held by copy of court-roll.

11. To refrain; to stop; to restrain; to withhold. hold your laughter. hold your tongue.

Death! what do'st? O, hold thy blow.

12. To keep; as, hold your peace.

13. To fix; to confine; to compel to observe or fulfill; as, to hold one to his promise.

14. To confine; to restrain from motion.

The Most High--held still the flood till they had passed. 2 Esdras.

15. To confine; to bind; in a legal or moral sense. He is held to perform his covenants.

16. To maintain; to retain; to continue.

But still he held his purpose to depart.

17. To keep in continuance or practice.

And Night and Chaos, ancestors of nature, hold Eternal anarchy.

18. To continue; to keep; to prosecute or carry on.

Seed-time and harvest, heat and hoary-frost,

Shall hold their course.

19. To have in session; as, to hold a court or parliament; to hold a council.

20. To celebrate; to solemnize; as, to hold a feast.

21. To maintain; to sustain; to have in use or exercise; as, to hold an argument or debate.

22. To sustain; to support.

Thy right hand shall hold me. Psalms 139:10.

23. To carry; to wield.

They all hold swords, being expert in war. Song of Solomon 3:8.

24. To maintain; to observe in practice.

Ye hold the traditions of men. Mark 7:4.

25. To last; to endure. The provisions will hold us, till we arrive in port. So we say, the provisions will last us; but the phrase is elliptical for will hold or last for us, the verb being intransitive.

To hold forth, to offer; to exhibit; to propose.

Observe the connection of ideas in the propositions which books hold forth and pretend to teach.

1. To reach forth; to put forward to view.

To hold in, to restrain; to curb; to govern by the bridle.

1. To restrain in general; to check; to repress.

To hold off, to keep at a distance.

To hold on, to continue or proceed in; as, to hold on a course.

To hold out, to extend; to stretch forth.

The king held out to Esther the golden scepter.Esther 5:1.

1. To propose; to offer.

Fortune holds out these to you as rewards.

2. To continue to do or suffer.

He cannot long hold out these pangs. [Not used.]

To hold up, to raise; as, hold up your head.

1. To sustain; to support.

He holds himself up in virtue.

2. To retain; to withhold.

3. To offer; to exhibit. He held up to view the prospect of gain.

4. To sustain; to keep from falling.

To hold one's own, to keep good one's present condition; not to fall off, or to lose ground. In seamen's language, a ship holds her own, when she sails as fast as another ship, or keeps her course.

To hold is used by the Irish, for to lay, as a bet, to wager. I hold a crown, or a dollar; but this is a vulgar use of the word.

HOLD, verb intransitive To be true; not to fail; to stand, as a fact or truth. This is a sound argument in many cases, but does not hold in the case under consideration.

The rule holds in lands as well as in other things.

In this application, we often say, to hold true, to hold good. The argument holds good in both cases. This holds true in most cases.

1. To continue unbroken or unsubdued.

Our force by land hath nobly held. [Little used.]

2. To last; to endure.

We now say, to hold out.

3. To continue.

While our obedience holds.

4. To be fast; to be firm; not to give way, or part. The rope is strong; I believe it will hold The anchor holds well.

5. To refrain.

His dauntless heart would fain have held

From weeping.

6. To stick or adhere. The plaster will not hold

To hold forth, to speak in public; to harangue; to preach; to proclaim.

To hold in, to restrain one's self. He was tempted to laugh; he could hardly hold in.

1. To continue in good luck. [Unusual.]

To hold off, to keep at a distance; to avoid connection.

To hold of, to be dependent on; to derive title from.

My crown is absolute and holds of none.

To hold on, to continue; not to be interrupted.

The trade held on many years.

1. To keep fast hold; to cling to.

2. To proceed in a course. Job 17:9.

To hold out, to last; to endure; to continue.

A consumptive constitution may hold out a few years. He will accomplish the work, if his strength holds out.

1. Not to yield; not to surrender; not to be subdued.

The garrison still held out.

To hold to, to cling or cleave to; to adhere.

Else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Matthew 6:24.

To hold under, or from, to have title from; as petty barons holding under the greater barons.

To hold with, to adhere to; to side with; to stand up for.hold plow, to direct or steer a plow by the hands, in tillage.

To hold together, to be joined; not to separate; to remain in union.

To hold up, to support one's self; as, to hold up under misfortunes.

1. To cease raining; to cease, as falling weather; used impersonally. It holds up; it will hold up.

2. To continue the same speed; to run or move fast.

But we now say, to keep up.

To hold a wager, to lay, to stake or to hazard a wager.

HOLD, used imperatively, signifies stop; cease; forbear; be still.

HOLD, noun A grasp with the hand; an embrace with the arms; any act or exertion of the strength or limbs which keeps a thing fast and prevents escape. Keep your hold; never quit your hold

It is much used after the verbs to take, and to lay; to take hold or to lay hold is to seize. It is used in a literal sense; as to take hold with the hands, with the arms, or with the teeth; or in a figurative sense.

Sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestine. Exo 15.

Take fast hold of instruction. Proverbs 4:13.

My soul took hold on thee.

1. Something which may be seized for support; that which supports.

If a man be upon a high place, without a good hold he is ready to fall.

2. Power of keeping.

On your vigor now,

My hold of this new kingdom all depends.

3. Power of seizing.

The law hath yet another hold on you.

4. A prison; a place of confinement.

They laid hands on them, and put them in hold till the next day. Acts 4:3.

5. Custody; safe keeping.

King Richard, he is in the mighty hold

Of Bolingbroke.

6. Power or influence operating on the mind; advantage that may be employed in directing or persuading another, or in governing his conduct.

Fear--by which God and his laws take the surest hold of us.

--Gives fortune no more hold of him than is necessary.

7. Lurking place; a place of security; as the hold of a wild beast.

8. A fortified place; a fort; a castle; often called a strong hold Jeremiah 51:30.

9. The whole interior cavity of a ship, between the floor and the lower deck. In a vessel of one deck, the whole interior space from the keel or floor to the deck. That part of the hold which lies abaft the main-mast is called the after-hold; that part immediately before the main-mast, the main-hold; that part about the fore-hatchway, the fore-hold.

10. In music, a mark directing the performer to rest on the note over which it is placed. It is called also a pause.

HOLDBACK, noun Hinderance; restraint.

HOLDER, noun One who holds or grasps in his hand, or embraces with his arms.

1. A tenant; one who holds land under another.

2. Something by which a thing is held.

3. One who owns or possesses; as a holder of stock, or shares in a joint concern.

4. In ships, one who is employed in the hold.

HOLDERFORTH, noun A haranguer; a preacher.

HOLDFAST, noun A thing that takes hold; a catch; a hook.

HOLDING, participle present tense Stopping; confining; restraining; keeping; retaining; adhering; maintaining, etc.

HOLDING, noun A tenure; a farm held of a superior.

1. The burden or chorus of a song.

2. Hold; influence; power over.