Synonyms for hold out


Grammar : Verb
Spell : hohld
Phonetic Transcription : hoÊŠld


Définition of hold out

Origin :
  • Old English haldan (Anglian), healdan (West Saxon), "to contain, grasp; retain; foster, cherish," class VII strong verb (past tense heold, past participle healden), from Proto-Germanic *haldanan (cf. Old Saxon haldan, Old Frisian halda, Old Norse halda, Dutch houden, German halten "to hold," Gothic haldan "to tend"), originally "to keep, tend, watch over" (as cattle), later "to have." Ancestral sense is preserved in behold. The original past participle holden was replaced by held beginning 16c., but survives in some legal jargon and in beholden.
  • Hold back is 1530s, transitive; 1570s, intransitive; hold off is early 15c., transitive; c.1600, intransitive; hold out is 1520s as "to stretch forth," 1580s as "to resist pressure." Hold on is early 13c. as "to maintain one’s course," 1830 as "to keep one’s grip on something," 1846 as an order to wait or stop. To hold (one's) tongue "be silent" is from c.1300. To hold (one's) own is from early 14c. To hold (someone's) hand "give moral support" is from 1935. Phrase hold your horses "be patient" is from 1844. To have and to hold have been paired alliteratively since at least c.1200, originally of marriage but also of real estate.
  • verb offer
  • verb endure
Example sentences :
  • There's a report to-day that —— cannot hold out much longer.
  • Extract from : « Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327 » by Various
  • You have to begin with 'em early, and begin as you mean to hold out.
  • Extract from : « The Village Watch-Tower » by (AKA Kate Douglas Riggs) Kate Douglas Wiggin
  • If your father'd just had the gumption to hold out, they'd have had to pay him anything he asked.
  • Extract from : « Alice Adams » by Booth Tarkington
  • And you feel positive that there is enough of this mineral to hold out for some time?'
  • Extract from : « A Woman Intervenes » by Robert Barr
  • She saw the girl at the gate spring forward and hold out her hands.
  • Extract from : « Four Girls and a Compact » by Annie Hamilton Donnell
  • The few Russians still left on 419 could not hold out after the loss of 412.
  • Extract from : « The Story of the Great War, Volume III (of VIII) » by Various
  • Possibly the Germans had begun to doubt how long Liege could hold out.
  • Extract from : « The Story of the Great War, Volume II (of VIII) » by Various
  • On hearing this, Christine could hold out no longer, but burst into laughter.
  • Extract from : « His Masterpiece » by Emile Zola
  • Her gay smile had come back; she was the first to hold out her hand.
  • Extract from : « His Masterpiece » by Emile Zola
  • Remains to be seen which can hold out longest—they without us, or we without them.
  • Extract from : « Strife (First Series Plays) » by John Galsworthy

Words or expressions associated with your search


Most wanted synonyms

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019