Hold

King James Dictionary

HOLD, pret.held pp. 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 Holden is obsolete in elegant writing.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

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

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

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. 2Esdras.

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

23. To carry to wield.

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

24. To maintain to observe in practice.

Ye hold the traditions of men.  Mark 7 .

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. 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, 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 .

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

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, n. 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.  Exodus 15

Take fast hold of instruction.  Proverbs 4

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

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 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.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A character [thus /] placed over or under a note or rest, and indicating that it is to be prolonged; - called also pause, and corona.

(2): ( v. t.) To retain in one's keeping; to maintain possession of, or authority over; not to give up or relinquish; to keep; to defend.

(3): ( v. t.) To have; to possess; to be in possession of; to occupy; to derive title to; as, to hold office.

(4): ( n. i.) In general, to keep one's self in a given position or condition; to remain fixed. Hence:

(5): ( v. t.) To prosecute, have, take, or join in, as something which is the result of united action; as to, hold a meeting, a festival, a session, etc.; hence, to direct and bring about officially; to conduct or preside at; as, the general held a council of war; a judge holds a court; a clergyman holds a service.

(6): ( v. t.) To receive and retain; to contain as a vessel; as, this pail holds milk; hence, to be able to receive and retain; to have capacity or containing power for.

(7): ( v. t.) To accept, as an opinion; to be the adherent of, openly or privately; to persist in, as a purpose; to maintain; to sustain.

(8): ( v. t.) To consider; to regard; to esteem; to account; to think; to judge.

(9): ( v. t.) To bear, carry, or manage; as he holds himself erect; he holds his head high.

(10): ( v. t.) To maintain in being or action; to carry on; to prosecute, as a course of conduct or an argument; to continue; to sustain.

(11): ( n. i.) Not to more; to halt; to stop;-mostly in the imperative.

(12): ( n. i.) Not to give way; not to part or become separated; to remain unbroken or unsubdued.

(13): ( n. i.) Not to fail or be found wanting; to continue; to last; to endure a test or trial; to abide; to persist.

(14): ( n. i.) Not to fall away, desert, or prove recreant; to remain attached; to cleave;-often with with, to, or for.

(15): ( n. i.) To restrain one's self; to refrain.

(16): ( n. i.) To derive right or title; - generally with of.

(17): ( n.) The act of holding, as in or with the hands or arms; the manner of holding, whether firm or loose; seizure; grasp; clasp; gripe; possession; - often used with the verbs take and lay.

(18): ( n.) The authority or ground to take or keep; claim.

(19): ( n.) Binding power and influence.

(20): ( n.) Something that may be grasped; means of support.

(21): ( n.) A place of confinement; a prison; confinement; custody; guard.

(22): ( n.) A place of security; a fortified place; a fort; a castle; - often called a stronghold.

(23): ( v. t.) To cause to remain in a given situation, position, or relation, within certain limits, or the like; to prevent from falling or escaping; to sustain; to restrain; to keep in the grasp; to retain.

(24): ( n.) The whole interior portion of a vessel below the lower deck, in which the cargo is stowed.

(25): ( v. t.) To impose restraint upon; to limit in motion or action; to bind legally or morally; to confine; to restrain.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Τήρησις (Strong'S #5084 — Noun Feminine — teresis — tay'-ray-sis )

translated "hold" in  Acts 4:3 , AV, "prison" in  Acts 5:18 (RV, "ward"), signifies (a) "a watching, guarding;" hence, "imprisonment, ward" (from tereo, "to watch, keep"); the RV, has "ward" in both places; (b) "a keeping," as a commandments,   1—Corinthians 7:19 . See Keeping , Ward.

2: Φυλακή (Strong'S #5438 — Noun Feminine — phulake — foo-lak-ay' )

"a guarding" or "guard" (akin to phulasso, "to guard or watch"), also denotes "a prison, a hold," Rev, 18:2 (twice), RV, "hold" in both places, AV, "cage," in the second (RV, marg., "prison," in both). See Cage , Imprisonment Prison.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Judges 9:46 9:49 1 Samuel 22:4 2 Samuel 5:7 2 Samuel 24:7  Micah 4:8  Habakkuk 1:10  Nahum 1:7  Acts 4:3Fortification Fort

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 1 Samuel 22:4,5 24:22

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

[verb] is often used figuratively, but in obvious meanings, in the Bible. To take hold of God and his covenant is to embrace him as given in the Gospel, and by faith to plead his promises and relations ( Isaiah 64:7;  Isaiah 56:4). Christians Hold Forth The Word Of Life; they, by practicing it in their lives, give light and instruction to others ( Philippians 2:16). Not Holding Of Christ The Head is neglecting to draw gracious influence from him, and to yield due subjection to him; as, for instance ( Colossians 2:18-19), worshipping angels, etc. instead of Christ; insisting on penances, etc. instead of on the merit of Christ's work.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hōld  Judges 9:49 1 Samuel 22:4 1 Samuel 24:22 2 Samuel 5:17 2 Samuel 23:14 1 Chronicles 11:16 1 Chronicles 12:16Fortification Revelation 18:2 phulakḗ