(venery).—1. The female pudendum. Also, HOLE OF CONTENT, and HOLE (or QUEEN) OF HOLES. For synonyms, see MONOSYLLABLE. TO GIVE A HOLE TO HIDE IT IN = TO GRANT THE FAVOUR (q.v.). [Hence, by a play upon words, HOLY OF HOLIES.]
1595. SHAKESPEARE, Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4. This drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his BAUBLE (q.v.) in a HOLE.
1598. FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Carnafau, the brat-getting place, or HOLE OF CONTENT.
1620. PERCY, Folio MSS., p. 197, ‘A maid & a younge man.’ He light in a HOLE ere he was aware!
1647–80. ROCHESTER, On the Charms of Hidden Treasure, in Poems. Thou mighty Princess, lovely QUEEN OF HOLES.
d. 1649. DRUMMOND, Posthumous Poems, ‘The Statue of Alcides.’
| Fair nymph, in ancient days, your HOLES, by far, | |
| Were not so hugely vast as now they are. |
1719. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, iv., 72.
| It has a Head much like a Mole’s, | |
| And yet it loves to creep in HOLES: | |
| The fairest She that e’er took Life, | |
| For love of this became a Wife. |
2. (old).—A cell; cf., HELL, sense 1.
1540. LYNDSAY, Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, line 1027.
| Wee have gart bind him with ane poill, | |
| And send him to the theifis HOILL. |
1607. G. WILKINS, The Miseries of Enforced Marriage, iii. [DODSLEY, Old Plays 4th ed., 1875, ix., 514]. If you shall think it meet, and that it shall accord with the state of gentry to submit myself from the feather-bed in the master’s side or the flock-bed in the knight’s ward, to the straw-bed in the HOLE.
1607. WENTWORTH SMITH, The Puritan, iii. Put. … But if e’er we clutch him again, the Counter shall charm him. Rav. The HOLE shall rot him.
1657. Walks of Hogsdon. Next from the stocks, the HOLE, and little-ease.
1663. KILLIGREW, The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 2 (DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT), 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 482). Make his mittimus to the HOLE at Newgate.
3. (old).—A private printing office where unlicensed books were made; a COCK-ROBIN SHOP (q.v.).—MOXON, 1683.
4. (colloquial).—A difficulty; a fix; on the turf, TO BE IN A HOLE = to lose (a bet) or be defeated (of horses).
1760–61. SMOLLETT, Sir Launcelot Greaves, ch. xvi. I should be in a deadly HOLE myself if all my customers should take it into their heads to drink nothing but water-gruel.
1868. OUIDA, Under Two Flags, ch. i. ‘I am in a hole—no end of a HOLE.
5. (common).—A place of abode; specifically, a mean habitation; a dirty lodging. For synonyms, see DIGGINGS.
6. (common).—The rectum: short for ARSE-HOLE. E.g., SUCK HIS HOLE = a derisive retort upon an affirmative answer to the question, ‘Do you know So-and-So?’ For synonyms, see MONOCULAR EYEGLASS.
1383. CHAUCER, The Canterbury Tales, ‘The Miller’s Tale.’ And at the window she put out hir HOLE.
1540. LYNDSAY, Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, line 2178. Lift up hir clais, kiss hir HOILL with your hart.
1614. JONSON, Bartholomew Fair, v., 3. A pot o’ your manners, kiss my HOLE here, and smell.
1649. DRUMMOND, Madrigals and Epigrams, ‘A Jest’ (CHALMERS, English Poets, 1810, x., 667).
| She turn’d, and turning up her hole beneath, | |
| Said, ‘Sir, kiss here, for it is all but earth.’ |
d. 1732. GAY, Tales ‘In Imitation of Chaucer’s Style’ (CHALMERS, English Poets, 1810, x., 504].
| Thou didst forget to guard thy postern-dore, | |
| There is an HOLE which hath not crossed been. |
A HOLE IN ONE’S COAT, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A flaw in one’s fame; a weak spot in one’s character. TO PICK A HOLE IN ONE’S COAT = to find a cause for censure.
1791. BURNS, ‘To Captain Grose.’
| If there’s a HOLE IN A’ YOUR COATS, | |
| I rede you tent it. |
TO MAKE (or BURN) A HOLE IN ONE’S POCKET, verb. phr. (colloquial).—Said of money recklessly spent.
TO MAKE A HOLE IN ANYTHING, verb. phr.—(colloquial).—To use up largely.
1663. KILLIGREW, The Parson’s Wedding, iii., 5 (DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT), 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 456). Wild. Do it then, and make a HOLE in this angel thou may’st creep through.
TO MAKE A HOLE IN THE WATER, verb. phr.—(common).—To commit suicide by drowning.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, p. 76. I should just MAKE A HOLE IN THE WATER, if ’tworn’t for the wife and the kids.
TO MAKE A HOLE, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To break; to spoil; to upset; to interrupt. Thus to MAKE A HOLE IN ONE’S MANNERS = to be rude; to MAKE A HOLE IN ONE’S REPUTATION = to betray, to seduce; to MAKE A HOLE IN THE SILENCE = to make a noise, to RAISE CAIN (q.v.).
