A hold, a grip. a. 1375, N.E.D.
1825. Lay holt here; lay holt, every one o’ you!—John Neal, ‘Brother Jonathan,’ ii. 60.
1848. I begun to wonder how they [the islands above Niagara] could hold ther holts, thar rite in the middle of such a racin river, ’thout gettin washed up by the roots and swept over the precipice below.—W. T. Thompson, ‘Major Jones’s Sketches of Travel,’ p. 162 (Phila.).
1888. Uncle Charley [the negro cook] said his “best holt” was on meats.—Mrs. Custer, ‘Tenting on the Plains,’ p. 231.
