Hold

verb. (old).—1.  To bet; to wager. See DO YOU HOLD?

  1534.  UDALL, Roister Doister, i., 2 (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 7). I HOLD a groat ye will drink anon of this gear.

  1551.  STILL, Gammer Gurton’s Needle, iii. 3.

  1697.  VANBRUGH, The Provoked Wife, ii., 1. I’ll HOLD you a guinea you don’t make her tell it you.

  1719.  D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, ii., 54. I’ll HOLD ye five Guineas to four.

  2.  (venery) (or HOLD IT).—To be impregnated; to be got with child. [In certain parts of Scotland, it is said, a farm servant stating that she “disna HAUD” commands double wages.]

  TO HOLD ON TO, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To apply oneself; to be persistent: generally, TO HOLD ON LIKE GRIM DEATH.

  1848.  RUXTON, Life in the Far West, p. 71. He recovered, and wisely HELD ON TO for the future.

  HOLD UP, verb. phr. (American and Australian).—1.  To rob on the highway; TO BAIL or STICK UP (q.v.). Also as subs. = a highwayman or ROAD-AGENT (q.v.).

  1888.  Detroit Free Press, 8 Dec. One man HELD UP six stage passengers in Arizona the other day and robbed them of $2,000. Each was armed, but it is customary to submit out there, and so up went their hands.

  1888.  Detroit Free Press, 13 Oct. Mounted on a white horse, he started on a land-prospecting tour and ran against a party of HOLD-UPS.

  1892.  G. A. TOWNSEND, Hearing My Requiem, in Lippincott’s Magazine, Oct., p. 495. Would HOLD the train UP until I had finished.

  2.  (thieves’).—To arrest. For synonyms, see NAB.

  TO HOLD THE STAGE, verb. phr. (theatrical).—To have the chief place on the boards and the eye of an audience. Fr., avoir les planches.

  TO HOLD A CANDLE TO (THE DEVIL, etc.), verb. phr. (colloquial).—See DEVIL, and add the following quot.

  1868.  C. READE and BOUCICAULT, Foul Play, ch. viii. But you see, sir, he has got the ear of the merchant ashore; and so I am obliged to HOLD A CANDLE TO THE DEVIL.

  TO HOLD A CANDLE TO, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To vie with; to be comparable to; also to assist in or condone.

  1888.  R. L. STEVENSON, Kidnapped, p. 79. They had killed poor Ransome; and was I TO HOLD THE CANDLE TO another murder?

  TO HOLD (or HANG) ON BY THE EYELIDS, EYELASHES or EYEBROWS, verb. phr. (common).—To pursue an object desperately; to insist upon a point; to carry on a forlorn hope. See also quot. and SPLASH BOARD.

  1883.  W. C. RUSSELL, Sailors’ Language, p. 69. HOLDING ON WITH HIS EYELIDS. Said of a man aloft with nothing much to lay hold of.

  TO HOLD IN HAND, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To amuse; to possess the attention or the mind; to have in one’s pocket.

  TO HOLD THE MARKET, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To buy stock and hold it to so large an extent that the price cannot decline.

  DO YOU HOLD? phr. (streets’).—Have you money to lend? Can you stand treat? Cf. verb., sense 1.

  HOLD YOUR HORSES, phr. (American).—Go easy; don’t get excited: a general injunction to calm in act and speech.

  HOLD YOUR JAW, phr. (colloquial).—Hold your tongue; STOW YOUR GAB (q.v.).

  HOLD HARD! (or ON)! intj. (colloquial).—Wait a moment! don’t be in a hurry!

  1761.  COLMAN, The Jealous Wife, V., in Wks. (1777), i., 130. HOLD HARD! HOLD HARD! you are all on a wrong scent.

  1835.  DICKENS, Sketches by Boz, p. 280. ‘HOLD HARD!’ said the conductor; ‘I’m blowed if we ha’n’t forgot the gen’lm’n as vas to be set down at Doory-lane.’

  1864.  YATES, Broken to Harness, ch. iv., p. 38 (1873). I told Meaburn to HOLD ON, and we’d get a rise out of Punch.

  HOLD-STITCH.—See STITCH.

  HOLD-WATER.—See WATER.